Promises
by lizandhenry
Summary: Stemmed from the fight in "There but for The Grace Of God". It just didn't sit well with me. So this attempts to tell the story of how they got to that fight and how they moved past it to strengthen the relationship they have now; through a series of promises. There will be lots of flashbacks :)
1. Chapter 1

"Go to Baghdad if you feel you have to, but I can't promise what it will be like when you come back."

It was the worst fight they'd ever had. They didn't speak for 3 days.

She wasn't mad that he didn't want her to go to be away for a year. She didn't want to go away for a year either. It was the way he had said it. _I don't know what it will be like when you come back._ She wondered what he meant by that, did he mean that he wouldn't love her anymore? Would he resent her for leaving and hold it against her? That is what hurt. It was the first time he'd ever said anything to her like that and it scared her. She didn't know how to respond, so she just stayed silent and busied herself at work; re-writing her report as Conrad asked.

Immersing herself in the task at hand was a tactic she'd learned long ago, and it had served her well in life. She was sure she learned it from her father when she was young. If she was honest she'd credit most of her 'business skills' to her father, but not by his teachings; by her own observations.

Today though the defense mechanism seemed to be failing her. Locked away in her office staring at the computer the first day of their three day fight, Elizabeth found herself distracted, her mind wandering back to her childhood instead of writing her report.

 _Growing up Elizabeth had been very close to her mother. Her father was loving enough, but it was her mother whom she spent the most time with. Her father ran an international corporation, so he was often away on business, or entertaining his clients. He had wanted sons, to carry on the business, his legacy. But they had just one daughter. They lived on an elaborate estate in the country, complete with their own horse stable, driving range and everything you could imagine. Her father often brought his clients there for dinners or weekend riding and golfing. What Elizabeth loved most about the country estate was the fond memories she shared there with her mother. After school they would going riding until dark. When her father was absent for dinner, which was often, they would pack a picnic basket and eat on a blanket under the stars, or her mother would read her fairy tales in the shade of the mature trees while the horses grazed nearby._

 _But soon her perfect world came crashing down. When she was eight, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Her father came home more often then, but ultimately hired a nurse to help care for her mother. When her mother could no longer go riding after school, Elizabeth would spend the afternoons keeping her mother company in bed or on the vast patio soaking in the sun's warmth if the weather allowed. In those quiet afternoons, her mother would stroke her hair and tell her everything she could about life in the short time she had left._

 _Elizabeth soaked in every word, and still held on to those talks. She filled Elizabeth's young mind with motherly advice, telling her to always remember to mind her manners, treat others kindly and most of all, always have hope for tomorrow. Even in the days when she was physically at her worst, her mother always kept a smile on her face and it stuck with Elizabeth. She told Elizabeth that she was smart and kind, and that she would go far in life. She encouraged her only daughter to travel, to learn and experience other cultures, have a fulfilling career that made a difference in the world. Finally, she reminded her that above all the most important thing was to be happy. She told Elizabeth she hoped she fell in love with a wonderful man and had children. Elizabeth had asked her mother how to know if she was in love. She would never forget her mother's response; she said it's the most wonderful feeling, when you can't stop smiling or daydreaming and that you'll only know it when it happens._

 _Her mother died soon after she turned nine and her father had a hard time dealing with her mother's death. Before her father's business took much of his time, she remembered happy they seemed, she had brief memories of her parents kissing and laughing. The memories resembled nothing close to their relationship when she died. Elizabeth didn't know it until many years later, but her father couldn't bear to be around her, his beautiful daughter Elizabeth, as she only reminded him of her mother; she was her spitting image. She was his reminder of what he let go of for his business, and he soon found himself letting her go too. Not necessarily intentionally, but because he didn't know what else to do. Instead of comforting Elizabeth after losing her mother and spending time with her, he buried himself deeper into work, coming home even less, and hired a live in nanny to care for Elizabeth. At first she didn't understand why her father wouldn't do things with her when he was home. She needed him, her mother was always there and now she was left alone with a nanny she'd never met before. But when her father brought his clients home, she behaved like the model daughter he needed her to be; joining he and his clients and children for riding and golfing. Over the years she'd paid close attention to his negotiation tactics. She'd quickly become very comfortable among powerful men._

 _Over the years Elizabeth had gotten used to it; only spending time with her father when it was related to his work. On the few instances he came home for dinner, he tried to dote on her and she cherished that time, but she would always be left heartbroken, knowing the next dinner would be at least a few weeks away._

 _Before she entered high school, her father deemed her too old for a nanny, and promptly sent her to the most prestigious boarding school in London; only wanting the best education for his only child. Elizabeth didn't want to go, but again she quickly adapted to her surroundings, her adolescence had made her strong and independant. At school Elizabeth excelled, burying her sadness once again in tasks at hand. She had perfect grades in all AP courses, was prom queen, and a member of the equestrian club, golf club, and cheerleading squad. She made friends easily as she knew how to conduct herself among influential families. She was able to sharpen her diplomatic skills, having had to interact with children of powerful and famous from all over the world, not just the US. She sparred off often with the captain of the debate team, Joey, who was one of her best friends and the future king of Bahrain._

 _Her father would write her letters and send lavish gifts for her birthday and Christmas, but he never once came to visit. She'd write him back, telling him only about events, never including how much it actually broke her heart that he'd sent her away. She'd come home for some time during the summer, but it was lonely, most of her childhood friends had either moved away or forgotten about her since she was gone so long, so she returned to Europe and participated in school educational trips, and summer abroad programs in other European countries instead. She enjoyed it far better, seeing the sites, learning about history; taking her mother's advice head on._

 _After high school Elizabeth returned to the states for college. She was accepted to every Ivy league school on a full scholarship. She had decided on Princeton and her father couldn't be happier - bragging to all his associates. She was just happy to again get away from the farm, wanting to leave first, before he could cancel another dinner with her._

 _On her first day at Princeton, in her Religion and Social Theory course she met Henry McCord. She could immediately tell her was older than her; it was a graduate level course after all. But all she knew was that she felt sparks the instant their hands touched and he smiled at her. He was distractingly handsome, but it was his kind eyes that she noticed first. He'd been equally smitten with her as well. They fell for each other, hard and fast, spending every free moment together. She couldn't help but remember her mother's words, "you will only know when it happens," and she had never been more sure about anything in her life. It had happened. She was in love with Henry McCord._

 _2 years later, she graduated with her BA in International Relations; having earned so many credits abroad and taking summer classes to avoid going home, and Henry had earned his Masters graduating Summa Cum Laude. Right after finals, before graduation, the couple ventured by train into NYC for a night on the town to celebrate and he proposed. She immediately said yes and he slipped a stunning ring from Tiffany's he'd been saving for since he laid eyes on her on her finger._

 _On graduation day, they had planned to meet each other's parents for the first time. They decided to keep their engagement a secret for now, not wanting to spring the news on them in their first meeting. Henry had warned Elizabeth that his father would likely not approve of her right away, citing that he would be judgmental of her upper class upbringing. She'd warned him of the same from her father and they agreed to weather through it together; the first of many obstacles they would face in their years together. They'd been spoiled at Princeton, able to be together with no judgement from others._

 _That morning as Henry placed her valedictorian sash on her neck her cell phone rang. "It's my Dad." she said, furrowing an eyebrow. "Hi Dad."_

" _Elizabeth, sweetheart." her father began. "I am really sorry, but I can't make your ceremony this morning."_

 _Elizabeth stayed silent and closed her eyes as she tried to prevent the tears from spilling out._

" _I had an emergency meeting in the city. Maybe I can pick you up for dinner afterwards?"_

" _I already have plans." she managed, knowing dinner would likely get cancelled as well._

 _He could hear the sadness in his daughter's voice. "I'm really sorry honey. I was really looking forward to your speech, I'm so proud of you. I'll make it up to you." he apologized sincerely. "How about I pick you up in the morning and we spend the whole day together?"_

 _Elizabeth wasn't surprised, business always came first with her father. Even though he'd been absent for a large part of her life, it still hurt. He couldn't even come to her college graduation. "No dad, that's okay. I'll just see you back at home in a couple weeks okay?" she said in a sad, quiet voice, again trying to avoid another disappointment._

" _Okay." he agreed. "I love you sweetheart. Congratulations."_

 _She flipped the phone shut without a goodbye and threw it across the room before sinking into the couch, burying her head in her hands as she sobbed. Henry was at her side instantly, rubbing her back. When the tears stopped she looked up at him and his heart broke for her. "He's not coming….I can't even believe it..actually I can, but it's my graduation day." she said, looking away, embarrassed._

 _Henry pulled her into his arms and she calmed in his embrace. "I'm sorry sweetheart," was all he said. After a few moments he pushed her back to look her in the eyes. "I know you wanted your dad here today, and I can't fix that. But I'll be there, today and always. I love you." he said softly, wiping the tears from her cheeks._

 _She nodded and leaned in to kiss him, "I love you too."_

 _When the kiss broke he smiled at her. "I'm so proud of you. Valedictorian at Princeton in 2 years. Incredible babe."_

 _She smiled back before looking down. "It just sucks….if my mother were still here she would….." she trailed off the tears coming again._

" _Your mother is very proud of you too. She's here with you today. She's watching." Henry whispered._

 _She nodded again, grasping his fingers in her lap. "Henry make me a promise?" she asked, with tear filled eyes._

" _Of course."_

" _Promise me when we have kids we won't put our jobs above them. Let's never miss a graduation, dance recital, or whatever…."_

" _So we're having kids now?" he joked. She giggled and gently smacked his chest. Taking a minute after the joke, he took her hands back in his and said. "I promise."_

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile at the early memories of she and Henry. They were so young and in love. She still was madly in love with him even 15 years later, which is why their fight had her so lost.

She remembered graduation night fondly, it was when they had to finally come out of their safe, secure world; their college bubble. Those two years in college were almost a dream, they had to worry about nothing but their homework and each other. There were no wars going on that could affect Henry's military status, no judgements from their parents about them dating someone they didn't approve of, no outside forces trying to pull them apart. But they'd built a strong foundation, and realized even on graduation day that they would start having to face real judgements and real issues that would test them, and they'd promised each other to weather though together, no matter what.

The first storm they made it through was telling their parents about their engagement. It was that during that summer that they had started to make each other promises about their future together; and how they would shape it to be the best combination of both of their worlds. They were the perfect balance for one another. Elizabeth remembered it fondly, looking at one of the many photos of them on her desk, a photo taken on graduation day.

 _Later that day, after they both accepted their diplomas they celebrated with friends and posed for photos in their cap & gown, Elizabeth prepared herself to meet Henry's parents. _

" _Do I look okay?" she asked Henry, smoothing her black pencil dress._

 __" _You look beautiful." he confirmed, straightening his tie and pulling on his blazer._

 _She fussed with her hair in the mirror for a few more seconds before touching up her lipstick, finally deciding she was ready._

 _Henry offered his arm as they walked to the car and held her hand as they navigated to the upscale restaurant nearby, trying to calm her nerves. His parents insisted they go out someplace nice to celebrate their graduation; their treat. When they arrived her kissed her knuckles. "They are going to to love you. Don't worry. Well, my mom will love you anyway."_

 _She smiled. "I hope so." She hadn't told Henry but she was more nervous to meet his mother than his father. He had said only wonderful things about her, so her expectations were high. She'd missed her own mother so much, now that she was marrying Henry, she was glad she had the chance again to have a motherly presence in her life._

 _Henry wrapped his arm around her as they walked down the sidewalk to the italian restaurant. His parents were waiting outside and smiled at them as they made their way over._

" _Mom, Dad." Henry said hugging his parents as Elizabeth looked on, smiling._

" _Son, we're so proud of you." his mother said after their hug ended._

" _Thanks." he said, turning to his fiancee, "I'd like you both to meet Elizabeth."_

 _Elizabeth smiled brightly as she shook his father's hand, "Elizabeth, I'm Pat, nice to meet you."_

" _It's so nice to meet you both." she beamed. "Henry has said nothing but wonderful things about you."_

" _We've heard nothing but wonderful things about you as well," his mother said, as she hugged her. "I'm so glad to finally meet you in person. Please, call me Jane."_

" _Well, shall we?" Henry asked, motioning to the door. His parents nodded and stepped in front of them to enter the restaurant as Henry held the door for everyone. Henry winked at Elizabeth, stepping in right after her, his hand guiding her on the small of her back._

 _They were seated at a large booth, each couple taking one side. Henry was glad they were in the booth, so he could keep his arm around his fiancee._

 _After ordering drinks, Elizabeth silently thanked her lucky stars she'd turned 21 three weeks ago. His parents didn't quite realize how much younger she was than her son, and she knew for sure that would be an awkward first conversation._

" _Elizabeth, Henry tells us you were valedictorian of your class. That's fantastic, your father must be so proud." Jane said, remembering Henry had told her her mother passed away when she was young._

 _Elizabeth forced a smile, choosing to leave her earlier interaction with her father out. "He is. But I think over the years he's come to expect me to have that distinction."_

" _Mom, Elizabeth was valedictorian in high school too." Henry added._

" _What high school?" Pat asked_

" _Houghton Hall." she replied as casually as she could_

" _Where is that? In New Jersey?" her father pushed._

 _Henry patted her knee in attempt to calm her growing nervousness. She hated telling others about boarding school. It seemed like bragging and was not one to do so. "It's in London. It's a boarding school." she finished, leaving out the 'very prestigious, where all the world leaders send their children' part._

" _Wow, that's very impressive...top of your class at Princeton and abroad. How on earth do you have time to date?" Jane joked_

" _Well it helped that we had some of the same classes." Elizabeth smiled, looking at Henry, her nerves only visible to him._

" _Mom, remember I told you I met Elizabeth on her first day?" Henry chimed in, trying to help her out. He knew she was trying to be humble about her education and it sometimes made her uncomfortable to talk about, so he tried his best to change the subject._

" _Oh that's right. Wait, that was 2 years ago, right? How on earth did you graduate in just two years my dear?" Jane asked. "You must be a genius."_

 _Elizabeth laughed. "Not even close. I took summer classes. This will be my first summer off actually."_

" _Then enjoy it, you deserve a break. Have you thought about grad school?" Jane asked_

" _Yes, but I'm not sure where I'm going to go yet."_

" _She's waiting to find out where I'm stationed, so she can pick a school nearby." Henry piped in._

 _Jane and Patrick looked at one another. "So you two are pretty serious then?" his father asked, taking a sip of his whiskey._

 _Henry and Elizabeth looked at one another and nodded, Elizabeth was unsure how to answer the question so she let Henry speak. "Yes. Very serious dad. I love Elizabeth so much, I can't even tell you." he said before planting a quick kiss to her lips._

" _You love him too, Elizabeth?" Pat pressed, clearly not 100% sold that his son was in love. Pat wasn't a believer in true love._

 _Jane gently pushed her husband's arm. "Pat, what are you blind. I can tell how much in love they are just by looking at them."_

" _Very much so, yes." Elizabeth spoke at the same time, blushing when Jane finished speaking._

 _In between bites of her shrimp fettuccine, Elizabeth decided to ask a few questions, wanting the pressure off her, and it would show her interest in them. She was excellent in these type of situations; again one of the many tactics she learned from her father's business dealings._

 __" _So Pat, Henry tells me are a manager at a steel factory. You must be very handy, I'm sure that's where Henry gets it from."_

 _Pat was surprised that Elizabeth had asked about his job, he was impressed. "Yes, I've been working there almost 28 years. It's certainly taught me a thing or two about fixing things."_

" _And Jane, Henry tells me you are a nurse. That must be very rewarding." she prompted_

" _It is. It's difficult to be comforting, yet stay detached. I work primarily with cancer patients. And for all recover, it seems there are just as many that don't….'_

" _Mom." Henry stopped her gently._

" _What?" Jane asked, confused_

" _Henry it's fine." Elizabeth insisted._

" _No..mom...Elizabeth's mother had cancer. So just…."_

" _Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry Elizabeth, I didn't realize -" Jane apologized._

" _It's okay. Really. It was a long time ago. I don't mind talking about it sometimes." Elizabeth insisted once again._

" _I'm so sorry." Jane apologized again, not for her comment, but for her loss. Elizabeth smiled her acceptance as she took another bite of her food. She successfully was able to swallow back her tears, at least initially. But Jane's kind eyes reminded her of her mother's, only a mother could look at you in that way. She instantly knew which parent Henry inherited his kind gaze from. Elizabeth quickly excused herself to the ladies room for a breather, feeling another round of tears coming._

 _Jane and Henry watched her go, and Henry contemplated following her, but decided it was best if she had a moment to herself. "Oh no, I hope I didn't…." Jane said quietly, feeling guilty._

" _You didn't mom. With it being graduation day, I think she just misses her more today. She's okay." Henry assured his mother._

 _Jane nodded and paused before changing the subject. "Henry, she is just a doll," she gushed. "Isn't she Pat?"_

 _Henry smiled at his mother's approval of Elizabeth, agreeing "She is incredible."_

" _You mother is right, she is very pretty. But she seems a little out of your league, don't you think Henry? Boarding school in London. Valedictorian. Are you sure she's okay on a military salary?" Pat said, being critical, as always._

 _Jane gave him an angry glare. "Stop."_

" _I knew you would judge her dad." Henry said, shaking his head. "It's not her fault her father is rich. She didn't even want to go to that boarding school, he just sent her there…" he said, defending his future wife._

" _Henry, ignore your father. Elizabeth is wonderful. The way you too look at each other is just darling. You are good together."_

 _Henry smiled at his mother's approval. "Good, I'm glad you like her. Because she's going to come home with me this summer for a couple weeks."_

" _Oh Henry, that will be wonderful! I can't wait to spend more time with her. Won't that be great Pat?"_

" _Yea, wonderful." Pat said dryly, and Jane gently punched his chest._

 _Elizabeth returned to the table and took hold of Henry's hand under the table and squeezed it, letting him know she was okay._

" _Elizabeth, Henry was just telling us that you're planning to spend a couple weeks with us in Pittsburgh this summer. That sounds wonderful to me."_

" _Yes, I am very much looking forward to it. I haven't been to Pittsburgh before. Henry says there are tons of things to do."_

" _Pat, let's take a few days off work when Elizabeth is in town. We can all go to a Pirates game!" Jane suggested_

 _His father shook his head in agreement, only to appease his mother._

" _That would be great." Henry said._

 _The rest of the evening went well and the foursome soon found themselves outside the restaurant saying their goodbyes. "Thank you so much for dinner, I am really looking forward to our visit." Elizabeth said, hugging Jane goodbye._

" _Us too dear." Jane said._

" _Bye mom. See you in a few days," Henry hugged his mother goodbye before turning to his father. "Bye Dad." he said, shaking his father's hand._

 _Once his parents were out of sight, Henry pulled Elizabeth into his arms and kissed her passionately. Her hands slid up his chest as she held onto the lapels of his jacket and his wound around her waist, sliding down to rest on her hips._

 _Their kisses soon slowed and she pulled back. "Your parents are wonderful Henry. Especially your mom…"_

 _Henry smiled down at her, kissing her nose. "They loved you...told you they would"_

 _Elizabeth smiled back up at him, scrunching her nose. "I'm not sure your dad loved me."_

" _It doesn't matter, I love you, and I'm going to marry you whether he likes it or not." Henry promised her. "My mom will calm him down."_

 _Elizabeth nodded into his chest and sighed, just content to be in his arms. "I can't wait to tell them about our engagement. I know my mom will be over the moon. She's always wanted a daughter. I think you two will get along very well."_

 _Elizabeth smiled, hoping Henry was right. She knew her mother could never be replaced, but she hoped Henry's mother could be that presence in her life. "Speaking of which, can I have my ring back now?" she said, not ready to confess her hopes to Henry._

 _Henry reached into his pocket and pulled her ring from it's velvet box, sliding it back on her finger. "How about we go for some ice cream? Last night at Princeton….."_

" _Reading my mind."_

AN: I hope you all like this, I really appreciate your reviews/comments as I take on their backstory! Honestly that argument just killed me; I haven't been able to continue with Madam President as much right now b/c that scene keeps playing in my mind, so I had to start writing this. I promise to get back to MP soon though!


	2. Chapter 2

_Henry McCord was the younger of two brothers and grew up in a seemingly normal household in suburban Pittsburgh. His father, a union steel worker, his mother a nurse. His wouldn't say his parents shared a love for each other like he and Elizabeth shared. Of course they loved one another; or maybe love wasn't the appropriate word; cared for one another was more like it. Henry couldn't remember his parents being "in love". He couldn't even recall many times that they ever spoke those words to one another. He couldn't remember them ever kissing or laughing together either. They had respect for one another, and stuck it out for the sake of their boys._

 _Having sons, his father was elated. He wanted his boys to be tough; and he pressed hard work and chores over school. His older brother Peter had been sucked under his father's spell. He had average grades, he played sports but wasn't overly athletic and started working at the steel mill with his father the second he turned 14. He never went to college, married a girl he dated in high school and had an overall average life. Much to his father's pleasure._

 _Henry on the other hand did his chores as he was told, but excelled in school. He had honor roll worthy grades and excelled at the sports he played; he was on the varsity football team and track team all four years in high school. Unlike his brother, Henry wanted to go to college. He didn't want to work in a factory. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, except for that he wanted to go to college. He knew his parents didn't have the money to send him, so he had been hoping for a scholarship. Be it in athletics or academics; it didn't matter, he just wanted to get there._

 _His mother fully supported him going to college; she had gone to college to become a nurse. While she loved it; nursing school wasn't cheap and she was still paying off her own loans. But his father did not go to college and had just gotten a job and worked his way up to manager over the years. He was proud, and Henry took note of his work ethic, but didn't understand why his father wouldn't want him to go to college; instead preferring he do exactly as his brother did and so Henry never saw eye to eye with his father._

 _From the time he was little his father pushed he and his brother into boy scouts and the church; "it was just what you do" he would say. They were both alter boys because his father was one. End of discussion._

 _Henry didn't really care for it at first, but found the scriptures interesting and soaked in all the he could from them. But when he was 7, and his friend died in the frozen water in the pond at the nearby park, Henry was lost. What he had learned in church was directly contradicting what had happened in his life. He didn't understand. But his pastor offered some advice, and assured Henry that sometimes god goes silent on us all. It was a lesson that really stuck with him. He wondered if god had gone silent on his father, and that was why he was so critical of him._

 _When Henry first turned old enough to work, he started working at a restaurant. He had often been the one helping his mother with cooking after school because his brother and father worked late. He found he liked cooking; so he opted to get an after school job at an upscale restaurant instead of the steel factory, where he learned from top chefs how to cook even better._

 _His mother told him his future wife would appreciate his skills. His father told him it was not a man's place to cook and wanted him to quit his job._

 _Soon enough Henry had applied to every Ivy League school in the country. Princeton had awarded him the most in scholarships, but it still wasn't enough to cover living expenses and books and he hadn't saved nearly enough money from his restaurant job to cover four years there. So he joined the Marines, planning to take advantage of the reimbursement to cover the rest. He thought this would make his father happy; it was 'a man's job' as his father would say._

 _He was right, being a Marine was probably one of the only things Henry decided to do that made his father happy. But he wasn't happy about why he enlisted. He never wanted to be a solider necessarily; he just wanted to go to school, although flying fighter jets also had it's appeal, which of course irritated his father to no end._

 _With the base in New York, Henry was able to complete his basic training while commuting back and forth to class on the train. It was tiring, but he kept remembering his father's work ethic; up early, out late, whatever it took to make ends meet. It was probably the one and only thing Henry learned from his father._

 _Henry's superiors at the base were impressed with not only his work ethic, but his natural abilities in the cockpit and he rose through the ranks quickly. With that came inactive duty to finish graduate school back at Princeton. He was grateful for the time; he just had to put in his final two years when he was done with school._

 _In college, Henry continued to pursue his interest in religion and history, always seeking the wisdom of the ancient philosophers to give new context to his life. His studies along with his military education had given him a unique perspective and his professors took note when reading his essays. They explained that his type of combined thinking would serve him well as a professor; and that was how he decided upon his career path._

 _Then on the first day of his second year of grad school, he met Elizabeth Faulkner. He would have liked to say it was her beautiful mind that he noticed first, but it was most definitely her physical beauty, he was a red blooded man after all. Although, she'd been accepted to Princeton; she was clearly no dummy. He'd never seen such a stunning woman let alone in a religion course. Most women he encountered in his religion courses were book worms or the socially awkward ones. He remembered that moment well._

 _Elizabeth had been late to class and there were few open seats, most of which were in the front row. She'd made what Henry believed to be the most adorable face; her nose scrunching when she realized she'd have to sit either in the front row, or next to quintessential class nerd with unruly hair, crooked glasses and acne._

 _She huffed, moving to take a spot in the front row, then out of the corner of her eye she noticed him, moving his book bag from the seat next to him and nodding to her. She rewarded Henry with a bright smile and quickly walked up the stairs, sliding into the desk next to him. "Thank you for saving me from the front row." she said quietly as she pulled her notebook from her shoulder bag._

 _"Here I thought I was saving you from that nerdy kid over there."_

 _"That too." she smiled, a slight blush on her cheeks._

 _"You new here?"_

 _"How could you tell?"_

 _"You're five minutes late for Dr. Bradford's class. Everyone knows never to be late for his class, he sometimes spits when he talks...so the front row…' Henry said, flirting a little._

 _"Good to know." Elizabeth said with a small laugh. "But I am late sometimes, promise to save me a seat next week?" she flirted back._

 _"Of course." he promised. "I'm Henry, by the way." he said offering his hand_

 _"Elizabeth." she replied, reaching for his hand._

 _When their hands met they felt it instantly. A spark. Their touch was electric. Their hands touched a few seconds longer than they should have, both gazing into each other eyes, instantly somehow smitten with one another._

 _The pulled apart when Professor Bradford entered the room and started talking. The lecture was dry and he struggled to pay attention. He was too distracted by Elizabeth, all he wanted to do was leave and talk to her the rest of the day, get to know everything about her. Every time she looked his way she seemed to catch him looking at her too and they'd smile at one another before trying to re-engage in the lecture. But it was a lost cause. Mid-way through the lecture he finally reached for her notebook, and scribbled a note on the blank page._

 _"Coffee after class?"_

 _Elizabeth looked down at the note and smiled "Absolutely." she wrote back._

 _It was definitely love at first sight. Something neither believed in until they'd met. They were inseparable ever since that day. Now here they were on the heels of a playful roadtrip, on their way to tell his parents about their engagement._

****** Promises **********

The first day they didn't speak was Henry's late night at school, so Elizabeth came home on time; feed Stevie, helped her with her homework and tucked her younger children in bed early. When the house was quiet, Elizabeth found herself perched on the edge of the couch, glass of wine in hand as she reviewed an old photo album. It included photos from their college days; she couldn't help but smile at the younger, more carefree versions of herself and her husband.

She laughed as she passed their ridiculous college photos, the ones where she sometimes wondered how she was alive after the amount of alcohol she'd consumed on a few of those occasions; sorority parties, frat parties, football games, halloween parties and formal dances. They attended every function together and their friends would roll their eyes as they would somehow always end up in some corner making out. There were several of those photos too. She'd have to remember to hide this particular photo album before Stevie went to college.

Her heart still skipped a beat when she came across Henry's Marine photos; he looked amazing in his dress uniform, and very sexy in the cockpit of his plane. She remembered one summer weekend he took her to the base in New York and took her up in one of the fighter jets, after clearing it with his superiors.

Then she came across the photos they took on their road trip to Pittsburgh, where they would tell his parents they were engaged. They were so happy, enjoying a few more days in their college bubble as they drove across the state, almost soaking it in before they were faced with their first challenge; the cold reality of his father's disapproval.

******* Promises *********

 _As they drove through the subdivision in suburban Pittsburgh, Elizabeth marveled at how picturesque is looked. Cute little homes; all well maintained, children riding their bikes, dogs barking, lawn mowers running. It seemed like a wonderful place to raise a family._

 _Henry smiled at the look on her face and gave her hand a squeeze as he slowed the car and turned into a driveway. "We're here."_

 _Elizabeth smiled and sucked in a deep breath before getting out of the vehicle. Henry rested his arm around her shoulder as they walked up the drive. "I smell BBQ." he said, and lead her to the back gate, finding her parents sitting outside on the deck, sipping lemonade._

 _Jane immediately stood and wrapped the couple in her arms. "Welcome home."_

 _Patrick rolled his eyes at his wife's excitement and stood reluctantly, giving Elizabeth a very brief welcome hug. She took it as a win, it was an upgrade from a handshake she'd gotten on graduation night._

 _"You must be starved from your drive." Jane said, "Dinner will be ready shortly, we were just waiting for Henry, the grillmaster."_

 _Elizabeth raised her eyes at the grillmaster comment and giggled as Jane poured them each a glass of lemonade before running inside to grab the chicken breasts._

 _Henry took plate from his mother and fired up the grill as Elizabeth re-counted the details of their road trip to them._

**** Promises ********

 _Elizabeth had packed up her dorm room and loaded everything into her BMW. Her father's office had arranged to have her car & belongings picked up and brought home that afternoon. _

_Early that morning Henry picked her up and loaded her suitcases for the trip to Pittsburgh in the back of his Jeep. "Ready for a road trip?"_

 _"You bet!" Elizabeth was so excited for the long drive, she'd never truly been on an American Road Trip, her father generally commissioned his airplane to take them everywhere; and regardless it was always for business. Henry had several stops planned on the way to back to his hometown to make sure she got the full road trip experience._

 _Henry exited the freeway about an hour into their ride. "Why are we stopping?" she asked, peering over at him from behind her sunglasses._

 _Henry laughed a little. "That's what you do on a road trip babe. Stop and take in the sights."_

 _"Oh." she laughed a little. "So this is how the other side goes on vacation?" she joked._

 _He laughed back, "It's fun isn't it?"_

 _They'd both had a habit of making light jabs at each other's upbringing, and neither were offended. She often wondered how her life would have been different if her mother were still alive. Would they have taken road trips? Would she have done more "normal" things? She somehow had a feeling she would have at least to some extent; her mother also being raised from more humble beginnings._

 _She took pleasure in trying things Henry's way. Except camping, that she didn't enjoy one single bit when he took her. After it downpoured on their tent, a very sleep deprived and cold Elizabeth got up in the middle of the night and slept in the Jeep. She'd caught a terrible cold from that trip and Henry remembered bringing her hot soup and watching movies with her the whole next day in her dorm. Next time, she warned, there better be a hotel._

 _During their stop In Philadelphia, they visited the Liberty Bell & the Benjamin Franklin monument before stopping off for a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak for lunch. Elizabeth documented each place they visited on her camera, including taking a photo of their sandwich. _

_It was so big they shared it, along with fries and sodas. "This is absolutely disgusting, and delicious." she said taking a messy bite._

 _Henry laughed at her. "I can't believe you have never had one of these." He grew up in Pennsylvania, so he'd eaten his fair share of philly cheesesteak sandwiches. "Also, one of the road trip rules - you must try the local cuisine."_

 _She swallowed down another bite of her sandwich with a large sip of diet coke. "Well, I wouldn't want to break the road trip rules," she said with a wink._

 _After lunch they got back on the road, stopping some 40 minutes later at Valley Forge National Park. While there they took part in the guided tour and did some exploring of their own._

 _"Thanks for the history lesson today, Captain." she joked when they were back in the car._

 _Henry laughed, and rested his hand on her bare leg as he drove. "Babe, that's part of the fun of road trips, seeing the historical sights. The second part is the gross, greasy food. The third part is going to places just for fun. The next stop is much more fun, no boring education required." he promised._

 _An hour and half later they pulled into the parking lot of Hotel Hershey. "Seriously!" Elizabeth gasped._

 _"Well, I know how much you like chocolate my dear. I could not let you come to Pennsylvania without visiting the chocolate capital of the world. Come on. We're staying here for the night, and tomorrow off to taste some chocolate."_

 _"Henry, are your parents expecting us tomorrow evening?" she asked over dinner at the surprisingly upscale restaurant at the hotel._

 _"Yea."_

 _"Do you think they would mind if we stayed another day here?"_

 _"No, I can call and say we'll be late. Why?_

 _"I was just looking at the spa menu earlier and I thought it would be fun to do couple's massage and then you know, enjoy that nice hotel room…"_

 _Henry blushed a little. He wasn't sure how he felt about the spa, but he liked the sound of enjoying the hotel room for another night. "Okay." he agreed_

 _Upon arriving back to the room after dinner, Elizabeth was quick to change into her shorts and tank pajama set and was under the covers in no time._

 _Concerned, Henry stripped to his boxers and undershirt and joined her in bed. "You okay babe?" he asked_

 _"Yea. Just a little nauseous."_

 _"Anything I can do?" he asked, he hated seeing her feeling bad._

 _She shook her head sleepily. "It'll pass. I really liked that philly cheese, but I don't think it liked me. Then I stupidly drank wine at dinner."_

 _He smiled at her and spooned her from behind, placing his hand on her belly, gently rubbing. He kissed her shoulder. "You didn't have that much wine. Just sleep, you'll feel better in the morning."_

 _Some 30 minutes later she bolted out of bed and before he could realize what was happening he heard her heaving in the bathroom. He quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the desk and hurried to the bathroom, holding her hair and rubbing her back while she emptied her stomach._

 _When she had stopped, he handed her the water and she whispered her thanks before swishing her mouth out and flushing the toilet._

 _Still sitting on the tile floor she backed up to rest against the tub's edge, sucking in a few deep breaths and sipping on the water. Henry took one of the washcloths, soaked it in cool water and sat down beside her and gently dabbed it against her clammy neck and forehead. "Better?" he asked gently and she nodded._

 _"I'm sorry." she said._

 _"For what?" he said with a gentle smile. "Everyone gets sick now and then. Ready to come back to bed?"_

 _She nodded. "After I brush my teeth."_

 _She thoroughly brushed her teeth and re-joined her fiancé in bed, snuggling right back into his embrace. She gave him a soft kiss before saying, "Goodnight."_

 _Henry laid awake watching her until she slipped into sleep, wanting to make sure she was done being sick before allowing himself to sleep._

 _As the early summer sun filtered through the curtains the next morning, Henry awoke, happy to see Elizabeth still curled against him. He gently moved her and got up to close the curtains, making sure the sun wouldn't wake her. He wanted her to rest following her being sick the previous night. He returned to the bed, and reached for the phone on the nightstand to dial his parents' house._

 _"Hi Mom." he said very quietly when his mother picked up._

 _"Oh Henry! We're so happy you're coming home today. We can't wait to see Elizabeth. Tell me, what does she like to eat, I'm heading to the grocery store soon….why are you talking so quiet? What's wrong?"_

 _Henry smiled at his mother's excitement. "Mom, we're running a bit behind. We won't get there until dinner time tomorrow. Elizabeth got sick last night, she's still sleeping."_

 _"Oh no. Is she okay?"_

 _"She's fine, just ate something that didn't agree with her."_

 _"Okay. Well I'll make sure to get some soup in case she still feels bad. What else should I get?"_

 _"Well, Elizabeth loves ice cream, so make sure we have that. Other than that she'll eat just about anything. Except mexican food. Mom, I'm going to go, I'll see you tomorrow."_

 _"Okay son. I love you."_

 _"Love you too."_

 _After hanging up, Henry snuggled back next to Elizabeth, brushing a stray piece of her golden hair from her face as she stirred. Opening her eyes, she met his and smiled. He'd been watching her, she could tell. "How are you feeling?" he whispered, continuing stroke her hair._

 _"Better." she sighed, snuggling closer._

 _"Good." he planted a kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep. It's only 7. I called my mom and told her we'd be there by dinner tomorrow."_

 _"Was she mad?"_

 _"No, not at all." Henry laughed at her worry._

 _They slept until around 9:30 before getting up and getting ready for their day in Hershey. Their first excursion was the Trolley tour which took them around the city of Hershey, including a stop at the Milton Hershey's Mansion. Next they took the chocolate factory tour and learned about chocolate making starting from the harvest of cocoa beans. They loved the chocolate factory; especially watching the Hershey kisses get made; and of course all the samples. They were even able to make their own chocolate bar and design their own wrapper before enjoying their spa day that afternoon._

 _They ended the evening as promised, enjoying the hotel room as Elizabeth promised, with room service. "So this is how the other half vacations; spa days & room service?" Henry joked with her as they lay tangled in the sheets. She giggled and kissed him softly. "I vote this becomes our tradition for our last night for all vacations."_

 _"No arguments from me." she grinned._

 _The next morning they'd slept in; wanting to stay snuggled in that comfortable king bed until checkout time and grabbed a light breakfast at the coffee shop downstairs consisting bagels and juice before hitting the road._

******* Promises*******

 _"I can't believe you had never been on a road trip before." Jane said; fascinated by her point of view of the experience._

 _Henry smiled as he observed their interaction, carefully watching over the grill. Then his father piped in._

 _"Well Elizabeth, you know, we all can't be privileged enough to take private jets everyplace on vacation. Some of us just have to get in the car and drive." Pat mulled, taking a sip of his beer._

 _"Dad!" Henry interjected from the grill._

 _"What Henry…."_

 _"It's okay." Elizabeth said nicely, turning to Pat. "Actually, most of the traveling I have done has been in Europe during boarding school, alone or with friends. My parents never really took me on a real family vacation. My dad was far too busy. Most trips I took with him were for business." She explained, hoping Pat would empathize at least a little. She wasn't trying to win the sympathy vote, just trying to illustrate that her life was not as privileged and perfect as he assumed._

 _"Trips across Europe. Forgive me Elizabeth, but that sounds terrible." Pat said sarcastically. Clearly her tactic didn't work._

 _"It wasn't." she reasoned, trying another tactic. "But when I traveled, I would always see families together. It sometimes hurt just a little that I was there alone. I know our little drive may not seem like much and Henry had been to all those places before, but for me it was all the more fun because I was went with him," she finished, in her sweetest voice._

 _Henry looked up from the grill and smiled at her, tossing her a wink. Damn she was good. Hopefully that would make his father shut his mouth._

 _Pat had wisely choose to not make any more hurtful remarks for the time being and sat silently as he ate his food, while he listened to everyone else talk – mostly about what a good cook Henry was._

 _"The chicken is delicious, Henry." His mother said. "I've certainly missed you around the kitchen since you've been away these past 7 years._

 _"I've missed my cooking companion. I love Elizabeth, but she is not very helpful in the kitchen."_

 _Patrick snorted. "That's not surprising."_

 _The smiles at the table fell. "It's not that I didn't want to. It's just well, after my mother died, my father hired a nanny, who of course did all of the cooking. Then at boarding school and at Princeton, obviously I ate on campus so I never really had to before." Elizabeth confirmed what her father was implying with grace, she was not ashamed._

 _Jane lifted her eye brows sending her husband a warning glare and tried to take the conversation back to happy. "Well you don't need to be dear, Henry is a great cook."_

 _"I see you've taught him well." She smiled warmly_

 _"I did. But he's taught me a few things too. He learned so much from that French restaurant he worked at in high school."_

 _"Yes, he told me about that. He has made me some delicious crepes. He claims he's going to teach me when we get our own place in the fall."_

 _"I'll do my best." Henry said, grabbing Elizabeth's hand under the table to offer some solace to his father's constant rudeness._

 _After the meal was almost complete Henry wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's shoulder and looked back and forth between his parents. "We have some exciting news."_

 _"Oh god Henry, please tell me you did not get Elizabeth pregnant. Then you'll be stuck…."_

 _"Patrick! That is enough." Jane said angrily. She had had enough of his attitude tonight. She turned back to the couple and apologized. "Please excuse him, he's being incredibly inappropriate. Tell me what the news is!"_

 _"We're engaged!" Henry said as happily as he could, his father's pregnancy comment completely ruining his mood._

 _Jane jumped from her seat and hugged them. "Oh that's wonderful! Let me see the ring." She said, not able to contain her excitement._

 _Elizabeth offered a smile, somewhere between happy and sad, holding out her hand. She was thrilled Jane was happy, but so upset that Henry was upset. Of course some of his father's comments had stung, but she had expected them and was honestly used to the "rich girl" judgement. It had hurt her deeply though to see Henry so upset with his father. She'd never seen him even remotely as upset before and she didn't know what to do to help him._

 _"This is the most beautiful ring, look at that huge diamond! You could stop traffic with that thing. Henry, did you pick this out? You have excellent taste in jewelry…." His mother gushed._

 _"It is beautiful." Elizabeth agreed quietly, keeping the majority of her focus on Henry's dark eyes and locked jaw._

 _As Jane gushed over them, Patrick stewed in his chair. He finally stood and hastily stomped off as he said. "Stuck with her all the same…."_

 _"That's it!" Henry shouted, quickly getting up and following his father into the garage._

 _"Henry!" Elizabeth tried to stop him_

 _Jane put her hand on her shoulder. "Let them go." She said quietly. "I think it's time they had it out."_

 _Elizabeth sat back in her chair and closed her eyes as she willed the tears back._

 _"It will be okay. Don't worry if Henry can't talk some sense into that stubborn man, I will tonight." Jane promised. "Congratulations. Really. I couldn't be happier for you two. I for one am thrilled to welcome you to the family dear."_

 _Elizabeth smiled. "That's very nice of you to say."_

 _"It's true dear. Come on, why don't you come inside? I need to get to know my future daughter in law better."_

 _Meanwhile in the garage, Patrick was fiddling with his tools, working on no project in-particular._

 _"Dad, we need to have a serious talk." Henry swallowed, trying to keep his anger at bay._

 _"Yes, I think we do. What has gotten into you Henry? Who do you think you are trying to marry this wealthy girl? Our lifestyle has never been good enough for you has it? You have always wanted to be one of them, haven't you?"_

 _"Of course not! I am proud of where I come from. I love Elizabeth, she loves me and we're getting married. Why is that so hard to understand? It has nothing to do with money."_

 _"Henry please, how do you know you are in love with this girl? She's too different than you, it won't work out."_

 _Henry could feel his anger bubbling up again. "They do not love that do not show their love." He quoted Shakespeare._

 _"Don't throw your fancy Princeton quotes in my face Henry."_

 _"It's not a fancy Princeton quote. It's Shakespeare. People learn that in high school! But come on dad, I most certainly don't think you are about to tell me that I don't know what love is. It's you who doesn't. You and mom do not look at each other the way Elizabeth and I do. I've never even heard you say those words to each other. You are the last person on earth to be lecturing me about love."_

 _Patrick couldn't argue there. He and Jane had gotten married only because she had gotten pregnant with Peter. Sure they'd learned to care for one another and did their best to make it work, but they weren't in love._

 _"Look son, I know I've given you a hard time about your choices over the years. But I just want you to look up to your old man. I didn't do everything right, knocking up your mother for one. But I married her because it was the right thing to do. She came from a family better off than me, so I constantly felt like I was disappointing her. That's why I don't want you to marry her. I can tell already you're working too hard to impress her; spending all your money on that silly ring. What, a smaller diamond wasn't good enough for her?"_

 _"I appreciate where you are coming from. But I bought Elizabeth that ring because I wanted to. She deserves the absolute best that I can give her. She never has judged me for my background."_

 _"Not yet Henry, but she will. All girls are the same in that aspect."_

 _"Dad!" Henry shouted again, running his hand across his face as he planned his next sentence. "Stop judging her. You don't want her to judge us, and she hasn't. She has been nothing but kind since the moment she met you, despite you constantly insulting her. So her father did well for himself. It's not her fault. If you would just take one second to listen to what she has been saying; her father send her away to boarding school after her mother died. Just because she is financially secure doesn't mean she's had it easy. She got into Princeton on a full scholarship, and was valedictorian. Money can't buy that."_

 _Patrick looked at his son. Right then he knew Henry was going to marry this girl whether he got on board or not. He'd questioned and made judgements about his son's choices since high school; jealous in a way of his successes. He wasn't fond of Elizabeth, but he decided just to let it go for now._

 _"So here's the deal dad. I'm marrying Elizabeth whether you like it or not. Judge me and be angry at me all you want, but do not take it out on her. At the very least I expect you to treat her like a human being. I don't suspect you will ever become best friends, but please just be nice to her. Because I promise you this dad. One day there will be a day, we hope, that Elizabeth will be pregnant and we will have children of our own and if this is how you behave, I promise you, I will not bring them around here, and you know that will really upset mom." Henry finished, his voice strong and unwavering. He had finally had the guts to stand up to his father._

 _The pair eyed each other for a moment before Henry walked away, heading back in the house to check on and apologize to his mother and fiancée for his outburst._

 _He walked in the living room, finding a scene that melted his heart. His mother and Elizabeth sat side by side on the couch giggling over an old photo._

 _Both women looked up when they noticed his presence. He genuinely smiled at them, happy they were getting along and moved to sit beside Elizabeth on the couch._

 _She turned to him, grasping his hands with hers. "You okay?"_

 _"Yea." He nodded, finally calming down._

 _"Please tell me you talked some sense into your father." His mother said quietly._

 _"I hope what I said sinks in."_

 _"Well if he needs more convincing, I have a few things I need to say to him tonight." His mother assured him. "I was just showing Elizabeth some of your pictures growing up." She changed the subject, hoping to help Henry calm down from his heated talk._

 _Henry laughed as he glanced at the photo album, noticing a picture of him with in high school, his hair slicked with gel. "That's embarrassing." He said_

 _"Luckily that trend has passed." Elizabeth said, running her fingers through his hair._

 _"Henry can show you the rest of these photos Elizabeth, I'm going to go fix some dessert." His mother said, sensing they needed some alone time._

 _Henry leaned back on the couch and wrapped his arm around her as she continued to examine each photo. She told him how cute he looked in his football uniform and made fun of his prom date._

 _When she had looked at every picture, he closed the book and set it on the table. "You want to take a walk?" he asked and she agreed_

 _She could tell he was still reeling from whatever he had said to his father and hoped he would confide in her. He tossed her one of his zip up hoodies as they slid on their sandles and walked out the front door. Their fingers met, as they slowing walked down the street. "You okay Henry?" she asked again, softly._

 _"Yea." He gave her the same answer, pulling her closer. "I'm just so sorry for how my dad treated you earlier."_

 _"It's okay." She mulled_

 _"No. It's not. But I want you to know that nothing, including him is going to stop me from marrying you." He said, stopping on the street and looking into her eyes. She nodded and he bent to kiss her. "I love you."_

 _"Love you too."_

 _"I'm so glad though that you and my mom are getting along." He added as they continued their walk._

 _"Me too._

 _Henry took great comfort in their walk, it was something they did often, it felt familiar. As they walked Elizabeth wondered if Henry would ever tell her what he said to his father. He didn't seem to want to discuss it, but whatever it was, she could tell it had brought him some peace now that he had calmed from it's intensity. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his middle and offered a smile. He smiled back and pulled her closer as they continued on._

 _They soon came to a stop at a small park, sitting side by side on a rocking bench. Henry rocked them as Elizabeth laid her head on his shoulder. "I hope I have the courage to stand up to my father when we tell him." She said quietly. "I know what you did wasn't easy. I'm proud of you."_

 _Henry smiled. "You will. And I'll be there for you, just as you are here right now for me. Remember, we'll get through it together."_

 _She nodded and they continued to rock for a while longer before Henry got up. "Looks like rain, we should head back."_

 _As they turned on Henry's street it started down pouring. Elizabeth shrieked as they started to run, both completely soaked, yet laughing and still holding hands as they made it onto the covered porch. On the porch, Henry pulled Elizabeth close as they shared a few deep kisses._

 _Jane had been watching them through the window as she waited for the pan of brownies for brownie sundaes to be done. "Look at them Pat. See how in love the are?" Jane pointed out. "If you do anything to ruin their happiness, I'll never forgive you."_

AN: Hope you all didn't mind the extra long chapter! Also I hope it made sense with the large amount of flashbacks I had in this one. Next chapter...we meet Elizabeth's father...dun dun dun...


	3. Chapter 3

_Henry pulled his Jeep in the circular driveway of Elizabeth's "family farm" as she called it. But really it was a beautiful French country styled estate. "Wow!" Henry said as he exited. "Your mom designed this place?"_

 _"_ _Even down to the landscape design. Come on inside, I can't wait for Alice to meet you!" Elizabeth said with excitement, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the front door._

 _Before Elizabeth could even open the door; there stood Alice welcoming her home with open arms. "Oh Elizabeth! It's been so long, I've missed you. It's lonely without you here." She said with a smile, her British accent still present in her voice. Alice was a middle aged woman, who resembled Julie Andrews circa The Princess Diaries, who used to be Elizabeth's nanny, but had stayed on at the house to do the cooking and cleaning for her father after Elizabeth was sent to boarding school. Alice was wise and caring, just what Elizabeth needed following the loss of her mother._

 _"_ _I've missed you too, Alice." Elizabeth said into the hug. "Is dad home?"_

 _"_ _Not yet. Come inside my darlings." Alice said, ushering them through the door._

"Alice, this is Henry. The one I told you about it my letters."

 _"_ _It's nice to finally meet you, Elizabeth has told me so much about you." Henry said as the older woman hugged him._

 _"_ _Elizabeth, he is as you described, very handsome." Alice said, giving Henry a once over._

 _"_ _He is. Alice, I want to tell you something because I just can't hold it inside any longer. But you can't say anything to Dad yet okay?" Elizabeth began as they all sat on the couch in the sitting room._

 _"_ _Okay dear, what is it?"_

 _"_ _Alice, Henry isn't my boyfriend. He's my fiancée; we're engaged!" Elizabeth said with a bright smile._

 _Alice held a hand to her heart as tears welled in her eyes. "That's just wonderful! I'm so happy for you both." She continued, pulling them both into a hug. Elizabeth knew that Alice would genuinely be happy for them and she hoped her excitement would make Henry feel welcome in her home._

 _"_ _Thank you, Alice." Elizabeth whispered_

 _Alice still couldn't contain her emotions. "Look at you my dear, all grown up and getting married. Where did the time go?" she said through her tears, as she wiped Elizabeth's. Alice took a deep breath and finally stood._

 _"_ _Okay, you two run along now. I need to star dinner. Your father will be home for dinner, so be back by 6:30 and cleaned up."_

 _Alice began to walk to the kitchen, but turned and waved her hand at the couple still sitting on the couch. "I'm serious, go show Henry around the property. You and I will talk later, I want all the details about you and Henry."_

 _"_ _Okay." Elizabeth said pulling Henry by the hand off the couch. She kissed Alice on the cheek as she walked past her and took Henry on the grand tour of the house._

 _********Promises*********_

 _Dressed in black dress pants and a white sleeveless blouse, Elizabeth was ready to have dinner with her father. He often expected that she be dressed properly for dinner in case clients had come home with him unexpectedly and she suspected the rules hadn't changed since last time she was home._

 _"_ _You ready?" Henry asked her as he finished buttoning his short sleeve dress shirt._

 _"_ _I guess." She said quietly._

 _"_ _Honey, it's your dad, why are you so nervous?" he asked, pulling her into a quick hug._

 _"_ _Well I haven't seen the man in two years. I don't know how he is going to take this."_

 _"_ _It couldn't go any worse than how my dad took it." Henry reasoned._

 _Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, she hoped not. But Henry didn't know her father. This was uncharted territory for her too, she'd never brought a boy home to meet her father, let alone the one she was engaged to._

 _"_ _Elizabeth!" John Faulkner bellowed as he entered the house, setting his briefcase on the front table._

 _Elizabeth sighed, leaving Henry's embrace as they made their way down the elegant staircase as they heard her father calling._

 _John Faulkner was a tall, handsome man. He had dark hair that was starting to go a bit salt and pepper and was clean shaven with a perfect smile, dark eyes and olive skin. He looked like he belonged on the cover of Fortune magazine when dressed in a suit. "Elizabeth!" he called again._

 _"_ _Coming!" Elizabeth called as she picked up her pace._

 _"_ _There you are. Come give your father a hug." John said as Elizabeth walked over, giving her father a hug._

 _He kissed her cheek as he pulled back, taking note of her appearance. It has been two years since he had seen her. She wasn't a kid anymore, but a grown up, beautiful young lady. "You look fantastic! I can't believe you are all grown up and graduated from college."_

 _Elizabeth nodded and smiled, motioning to Henry behind her who smiled at the interaction. "Dad, this is Henry. Henry, my father, John."_

 _"_ _Henry, good to meet you." John said, extending his hand in a very business-like manner._

 _"_ _You too." Henry said, giving a firm handshake with a smile._

 _"_ _Elizabeth, you didn't mention-" John began but Elizabeth cut him off._

 _"_ _I was going to introduce you at graduation." She insisted_

 _John nodded and motioned them to the dining room. "Oh yes, I'm so sorry again about missing that. But I hope you know how very proud of you I am. Let's have dinner and we can talk about your present." He said, completely missing her point._

 _Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Henry at her father's ignorance and Henry gave her a re-assuring smile as they followed him to the table. John sat at the head of the table with Henry and Elizabeth sitting across from one another on either side._

 _Alice had prepared lasagna, salad and garlic bread for dinner and already had their plates made up. As Elizabeth placed her napkin on lap her father began speaking again. "Elizabeth, we need to do something to celebrate your graduation. And your birthday."_

 _"_ _Dad, it's fine." Elizabeth insisted, not wanting to dwell on it any longer. She knew he was just going to try and buy his way out of it with some elaborate gift and tried to change the subject. "Henry just finished his masters at Princeton." She gushed over her fiancé._

 _"_ _That's wonderful. Congratulations." John said nicely as the phone rang, "Excuse me." He said, taking the call in the other room._

 _Henry watched across the table as Elizabeth's face dropped; put on the back burner once again due to a business call. When the phone call was finished he sat back down and set the phone next to his plate. "I'm sorry sweetheart. Where were we?"_

 _They both offered a polite smile but didn't say anything._

 _"_ _Ah yes, we were talking about your birthday and graduation gift. Is there anything special you would like?" he asked his daughter. She nodded in the negative and opened her mouth to say something but he kept talking, "I have a couple ideas…."_

 _"Dad!" Elizabeth said loudly, stopping him. "We can talk about it later. You're being rude to our guest. I want you to get to know Henry."_

 _"_ _Alright then." Her father agreed._

 _"_ _So Henry and I have been together since I started at Princeton." Elizabeth began with a smile._

 _"_ _Is that so?" John replied, interested._

 _"_ _Yes, we met in a class we had together." Henry confirmed._

 _The phone rang again. "Excuse me, just one second." John said apologetically as he stood and moved away from the table. "Hello, this is John…."_

 _Elizabeth rested her head against her palm as she muttered under her breath. "Unbelievable." She willed her tears back as she reached her hand across the table for Henry's. "I'm so sorry." She apologized for her father's behavior._

 _"_ _It's okay. It's not your fault." He assured her and took another bite of his lasagna._

 _From the other room, John observed his daughter's interactions with Henry as he took the phone call. He noticed the way their hands met across the table and how they smiled at one another. He saw Elizabeth giggle at something he had said and watched his lips curve into a smile when she laughed. Her mannerisms reminded him very much of her mother. Even though she'd been gone for so long, when he looked at his daughter it was like looking his wife's twin._

 _Walking back into the dining room, John sat back down and apologized again. "Sorry about that. Work never stops it seems."_

 _Henry started the conversation this time. "The house is absolutely beautiful. Elizabeth tells me her mother designed it."_

 _"Ah yes. She did. She was a very gifted architect." John smiled at the memory of his late wife._

 _"_ _While I was in Pennsylvania with Henry, he took me to Falling Water. You know the Frank Lloyd Wright house mom talked about. It was absolutely beautiful." Elizabeth dotted._

 _"_ _That sounds like fun."_

 _"_ _Excuse me, Mr. Faulkner." Alice said with a sad expression, knowing it would upset Elizabeth, entering the room with papers. "These just came for your signature."_

 _"_ _Thank you Alice." He said, signing the papers quickly._

 _As Alice left the room, she patted Elizabeth's shoulder as Elizabeth took a deep breath to curb her frustration at the third interruption. This time when her father returned she didn't try to re-start the conversation, just kept nibbling at her salad._

 _"I'm so sorry guys. There's a lot of stuff going on right now at the office. Please tell me more about your trip to Pennsylvania." He encouraged. He could tell he'd upset his daughter and was trying to fix it._

 _For a few moments the only sound was forks clicking on plates. Elizabeth sighed and set down her fork, deciding it was time to get to the point, maybe if she blurted out she was engaged her would stop long enough to listen to her. "Henry is from Pittsburgh, so I went to spend a couple weeks and get to know his parents because -" She said quietly, not making direct eye contact._

 _Then the phone rang again, interrupting her mid-sentence. Her father politely held up one finger as he reached for the phone but Elizabeth was quick and snatched it first, pressing the red button to silence it._

 _"_ _Elizabeth!" her father exclaimed, not happy with her behavior. "That is an important client."_

 _Tears welled in her eyes. "And what, I'm not important? I've had enough of this!" She began quietly, shaking her head. "I don't know why I thought tonight would be different. Can't you see I've been trying to tell you something all night, and you just keep answering that stupid phone." She continued wiping at her tears. "I don't want some expensive gift for my birthday, another fancy piece of jewelry or a new car, or whatever ridiculous thing you have in mind. What I want and what I have always wanted is just for you to pay attention to me for more than 5 minutes. I haven't seen you in two years for god sakes, and you can't even give me an hour of your undivided attention for dinner…" Now she was sobbing so hard she couldn't even speak._

 _John's face fell as he realized what he had done not only tonight but ever since her mother had died, ignoring his only daughter when she probably needed him the most. "I'm sorry sweetheart." He swallowed, reaching for her arm. "What is it? What do you need to tell me? I'm listening."_

 _Her lips pursed as she swallowed down a fresh batch of tears as she met his eyes. He'd ruined the moment, she couldn't even smile as she spoke in her softest, saddest voice before throwing her napkin on the table and running out the back door. "Henry and I are engaged."_

 _John closed his eyes as a guilty expression washed over his face. He closed his eyes he pictured her as a little girl, sitting at the dinner table in pigtails, when the most important thing she wanted to tell him was that she had learned how to do a cartwheel and wanted him to watch her on the lawn after dinner. He pictured that same little girl sitting across from him saying "Daddy, I'm engaged." It hit him like a ton of bricks. When did his baby girl become this beautiful, intelligent woman he knew so little about?_

 _"Elizabeth, wait!" he called trying to catch up._

 _Henry watched the interaction and just looked down, suddenly no longer hungry. He felt so bad for his fiancée. All she wanted was five minutes of her father's time. It made him grateful for his own father, while judgmental, at least he was there. But he did notice how genuinely guilty her father looker; maybe just now Elizabeth had finally gotten through to him._

 _Alice had entered the dining room and placed a hand on Henry's shoulder. "She'll be okay."_

 _"_ _I should go check on her." He said, his voice breaking._

 _"_ _Give her a few minutes." Alice said, as she began to clear the dishes. Henry instinctively stood to help and followed her to the kitchen. "Thank you dear. You are so sweet. Here." She said, handing Henry a ziplock bag with apple slices and carrots. "You'll find her in the horse stable. Take these – treats for the horses."_

 _"_ _Thank you Alice." Henry said, taking the bag and heading off to the barn._

 _Meanwhile Elizabeth was heaving for breath when she reached the barn. The four horses immediately turned their attention to her as she opened the door. They all loved her._

 _Stepping through the hay in her high heels, she grabbed a brush off the hook on the wall and walked over to her horse, Secretariat. She pulled open the wooden gate to his stable and he slowly walked out, a sad look in his big brown eyes. He could tell Elizabeth was upset. He ducked his head to her level so she could pet his nose. She smiled at him sadly as she ran her fingers over his nose and cheek. "Hi buddy." Her voice broke as the tears came again. She wrapped her arms around the horse and cried for a few minutes as the horse nuzzled her._

 _Pulling away she planted a kiss on his head and wiped at her tears. "You like Henry right?" she asked him quietly as she began to run the brush over his neck. He made a soft nose as if responding to her. "Well good, because I'm going to marry him. Did we tell you that earlier?" she continued_

 _The horse made another soft noise and she smiled and continued "I just wish he would listen. That's not asking a lot right?"_

 _Secretariat literally moved his head back and forth as if saying no, agreeing with her. She smirked at him and continued to brush him._

 _Henry has been quietly observing her from the barn door, waiting for the right time to enter. It made him smile to see her interact with the horses. When she seemed to have calmed down substantially and was silently brushing Secretariat, he entered._

 _Elizabeth didn't notice him come in, but Secretariat did and nudged her leg. "Secretariat, don't be sassy." She scolded. Then he did it again and she turned to see Henry. When she noticed him Secretariat snorted as if saying "see."_

 _Henry walked over to her and took her hands in his. "You okay?" he asked, concerned._

 _She shrugged her shoulders. "Yea."_

 _He let go of her hands and pulled her into his arms. She smiled sadly and rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. "It just, I hate when he lets me down." She confessed. "And it's my own fault for getting my hopes up."_

 _"_ _No, it isn't your fault." He promised. "If it makes you feel any better he looked really sad after you ran out. I think you got through to him. You should talk to him later."_

 _"_ _Well good. I'm glad he realized what he has done. And he can come talk to me, I'm done being the only one who makes an effort." She said, getting a little worked up again._

 _"_ _Alright, pipe down." He warned, tightening his hold on her._

 _She took a deep breath to calm herself again. "Sorry."_

 _"_ _It's okay. But I don't think it went as bad as you think. At least he didn't accuse you of being pregnant." He said, half joking._

 _She laughed and pulled back to kiss him. "That's true. I love you, you know."_

 _"_ _Love you too." He smiled at her laugh and kissed her back. They kissed softly for several minutes before Secretariat nudged them ._

 _"_ _Oh, you want in on this?" she said, reluctantly pulling away from Henry's lips, turning to the animal. "Okay. We love you too. Henry, give him a hug and kiss."_

 _Henry followed her lead and they both hugged the horse and kissed his cheek. "He likes you, you know." She said as she stroked his fur._

 _"_ _He's going to like me even more, Alice sent these treats out here with me." Henry said producing the bag of apple slices and carrots._

 _Elizabeth smiled and took the bag from him. "Look what Henry brought for you buddy." Secretariat nudged Elizabeth's hand that held the bag of treats. "Okay, just a second…" She took out one of the mini carrots and held it flat in her palm and Secretariat gently ate it. "Henry, hold out your hand." She instructed. He could tell he was nervous to feed the large animal, but did as she asked and she placed one of the apple slices in his palm and Secretariat just as calmly ate from his hand._

 _He smiled, amazed. "He's so gentle."_

 _"_ _He likes you," she smiled at him, "Don't you, boy?"_

 _The pair continued to feed Secretariat his treats and he alternated taking each piece from their hand. "So, how did you come up with his name?" Henry asked. "Doesn't seem very original, Elizabeth."_

 _She smiled at her fiancée and at her beautiful chestnut brown horse. "Well, I was only 10 when I named him, give me a break."_

 _"_ _So he's 11 years old?"_

 _"_ _Yea, most horses live like 25 years. But anyway, when I was really little, like 3 or 4, I was watching the Triple Crown races with my mother. She loved watching the races on TV. One year she even took me to the derby when I was maybe 5 or 6 – it's that photo I showed you. We both had on new dresses and fancy hats." She paused, reaching in the bag for another carrot. Henry remembered the photo, she kept it on a frame in her bedroom at college. Her mother had picked her up and they were both smiling brightly at each other, and Elizabeth had her tiny hand on the brim of her derby hat. It was a beautiful candid photo._

 _"_ _Anyway, that year we watched on TV, Secretariat won. She was so excited," Elizabeth remembered, a lull in her voice "I remember afterward she was saying to me 'Lizzie, did you see Secretariat?' and I just was repeating her, I couldn't even say the word Secretariat. It was more like Secer-tat." She laughed. Henry smiled warmly at her as she remembered. "When Secretariat was born, it had been a year or so after mom died. Daddy said this foal could be my horse. So I named it Secretariat, sort of in honor of my mom's favorite horse, I guess. One time I even made a string of roses that I picked from the garden and hung it around his neck, like he won the derby and I lead him around the pen for his victory lap. Silly right?"_

 _When she was finished he put his arm around her. "No. Not even the slightest bit silly."_

 _"_ _I think Secretariat wants to go for a ride tomorrow." She said turning her attention to the horse. He seemed to nod up and down. "Secretariat says yes." She said to Henry, "You up for learning to ride tomorrow?"_

 _"_ _Well, whatever Secretariat wants."_

 _She giggled and they finished off the last of the treats. "Okay buddy, we should head back in now. We'll spend the day together tomorrow– show Henry how it's done." She said, kissing the horse and motioning him back to his stable._

 _After saying goodnight to the horse, Henry wrapped his arm around her and they began walking back to the house._

 _Little did she know her father had been nearby, observing them in the barn. He had come to check on her and have a talk, but realized Henry had beat him to it. Perhaps it was for the better, he noticed Henry knew exactly what to do and say to comfort his daughter; whereas he did not. He knew how to make her tears stop and how to make her laugh. Henry McCord knew his daughter much better than he did. He could tell immediately he was the one for her. As he watched them exit the barn, he doubled back to the house so they wouldn't see him and tried to think of a way he could make up all those years to his daughter before he lost her for good._

 _"_ _So is there an ice cream joint around here?" Henry asked as they walked back; the moonlight shining down upon them._

 _Elizabeth laughed. "There is. It's called the freezer. Closest actual ice cream store is 30 minutes away, so they would be closed by the time we got there. "_

 _"_ _Well what kind of ice cream is in the freezer? I can make you a sundae when we get back."_

 _"_ _I think I just want to go to bed. It's been a long day between this and the driving. Besides, if you want to go riding, we have to get up early." She mulled._

 _"_ _Okay." He said, kissing her forehead._

 _"_ _Promise me something?" she asked softly, looking up at him when they reached the door._

 _"_ _Anything."_

 _"_ _Promise me we'll never take phone calls during dinner."_

 _He smiled softly at her. "Promise."_

 _***Promises****_

 _John Faulkner sat at his mahogany desk inside his home office, a glass of whiskey in his hand as he mulled over the decisions he had made since Elizabeth was born. He knew he had to have a long talk with her and explain things. Getting up from his chair, he drained his drink and went off in search of his daughter._

 _He walked around the house, but it was silent. "Alice, where's Elizabeth? I need to talk to her."_

 _"_ _Oh, she went to bed a while ago Mr. Faulkner."_

 _He smiled sadly at Alice. "I guess I'll just talk to her in the morning then." He began to walk away but stopped, and asked another question. "Alice? Did you know about the engagement?"_

 _"_ _She told me when she arrived home. It's wonderful isn't it?" Alice said, sipping her evening tea._

 _"_ _She does seem happy." He agreed. "Goodnight Alice."_

 _John quietly climbed the stairs on his way to bedroom and stopped by Elizabeth's room. It had been empty for so long, the house in general had felt empty without her there, it felt good to stop and check in on her again. Her door was cracked slightly, and he pushed it open with a finger, peering inside. He smiled when he saw her peacefully tucked under her fiancé's arm in the middle of her king size bed._

 _He crossed the room quietly and pulled the blankets up higher around them. He bent to kiss her cheek softly. "Goodnight baby girl."_

A/N: Apologies for the delay in this; life has been busy! Hope you are starting to get the theme here with the various promises; a lot of background to get to 2005! I am working on part 4 as we speak...John has a heart to heart with Elizabeth and we will learn why he sent her away.


	4. Chapter 4

_The next morning on his way to work he peered in Elizabeth's room, expecting to find her still asleep but found her bed empty._

 _"_ _Alice, where is Elizabeth?" John asked as he poured himself a coffee._

 _"_ _She and Henry got up early to go riding; they're out in in the round pen. Look." Alice said, pointing out the window with a knowing smile._

 _John thanked her and made his way outside. He smiled to himself as he heard Elizabeth's joyful laughter. He could tell Secretariat was showing off and not listening to her instruction. Henry was up on the horse and Elizabeth had him on a lead and was trying to walk him slowly around the pen get him comfortable. She was dressed in her jeans, riding boots and an old button down shirt over a tank top, her hair in two messy braids; she looked like the little girl he remembered._

 _He wanted to go over, but he wasn't sure he'd be welcome. He didn't want to do anything to disrupt his daughter's joyful laughter ever again. He decided to wait until that evening to talk to her and ducked into his car before they noticed him._

 _John purposely arrived home late to avoid an awkward silent dinner and found Elizabeth and Henry on the front porch swing, rocking together, but reading their own books._

 _"_ _Hi." He said, stepping on the porch._

 _Elizabeth and Henry looked up from their reading. Henry nodded politely, but Elizabeth quickly averted her eyes back to her book._

 _"_ _Henry, do you mind if I talk to Elizabeth alone for a few minutes?" he asked nicely_

 _Henry nodded and stood. "I'll just be inside." He told Elizabeth as he walked away._

 _"_ _May I?" John asked, referring to Henry's seat on the swing. Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, but said nothing. She was very good at the silent treatment. John took a seat and moved his legs to keep the swing rocking gently and Elizabeth's legs were folded beneath her. "Look, I know you are mad at me. And you have every right to be, you were right about yesterday. I should have put the phone away. But when you told me you were engaged it hit me, that you were all grown up and I've missed out on most of your life. I didn't realize until yesterday how much I had hurt you. It was never my intention." He explained honestly_

 _Elizabeth blinked back the tears as she closed her book, looking down, unwilling to meet his hazel eyes. She didn't know how to respond. Part of her wanted to say too bad, you abandoned me and this is what you get, but another part of her was curious. She was dying to hear his explanation. And above all he was her father and even though she tried to be Miss Independent, she longed for her father's approval and attention. "Didn't you miss me?" she finally asked_

 _"_ _Of course I did." He didn't hesitate_

 _"_ _Then why did…." She began, unable to find the words._

 _He scooted closer to her on the bench and lifted his finger gently to her chin, revealing her sad blue eyes. "Listen to me sweetheart." She met his gaze and blinked for a moment and looked back up at him. "When your mom and I got married we had big dreams. We built the farm, our hearts set on a big family. We wanted to have lots of kids, for the boys to be able to take on my business and for the family to be financially secure. So I had to work really hard at first to grow the business. It took me away from your mom for longer than we had anticipated. Then we had you, and we were so elated. She wanted to stay home with you and I wanted her to be able to do that, so I had to work even harder after she quit her job."_

 _"_ _I didn't…"_

 _"_ _Anyway, she also said that she didn't want you to take on the business; she said she you had an independent spirit and she wanted you to live your own life. We tried to have more children, we wanted you to have a sibling at least. We also still wanted a boy so he could carry on the family name and business, we tried hard. But your mom…she had 2 miscarriages." He said, blinking back a few tears, it was hard for him to talk about. He hadn't spoke about it in so many years, just buried it deep inside. "It's how they found the cancer." He paused again._

 _Fresh tears pooled in her blue eyes as she realized how difficult it must have been for them, trying to have more children only to not only not be able to, but find out the reason why was cancer. She instinctively reached for her father's hand and held it tight._

 _Her father's teary eyes met hers as he gripped her hand back and lifted it to his lips for a kiss. "I had a really hard time dealing with your mother's cancer. It killed me to see her so sick, with nothing I could do to help. So I delved deeper into work to avoid it; it was my way of dealing with it I guess. Probably not the right path. But that's what happened. I still feel terrible about it. I wish I had the strength to be there for her."_

 _Elizabeth didn't like that part of the story, but understood it nonetheless. She offered a sympathetic nod._

 _"_ _But you, you were there for her. You were stronger at 9 that I am at 49. You inherited her strength and her heart. She loved you so much baby girl. When I was home with her, she would tell me how good you had been and how sad she was that she wouldn't get to see you grow up. She made me promise to give you the best life possible…" he said quietly as Elizabeth began to sob. She still missed her mother so very much._

 _He paused, reaching in his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe his daughter's tears but she surprised him by wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his neck._

 _He hated that she was crying but deep inside, he couldn't help but be happy she was seeking him for comfort. He couldn't remember the last time he held his daughter. He wrapped his arms around her tight they shared a good cry for her mother and his wife, one they should have had long ago but never did. "I still miss her so much." She whispered._

 _"_ _I miss her too Lizzie." He whispered when they broke apart, finally using that handkerchief to wipe away her tears. "After she died, I didn't know what to do. Every time I looked at you, all I saw was her. She was my whole heart. Even now…you look exactly like her. Sometimes I swear, it's her and not you. So I again, buried myself in work. It wasn't that I didn't want to be home with you, I just didn't know what to do or how to help you. I thought it would be best if I just hired a nanny to be home with you all the time like mom was. Besides, I know it sounds terrible, but I had to keep up with the business to make sure things were financially sounds for your future."_

 _"_ _I love Alice, I do. But I needed you too. I still do." She whispered._

 _"_ _I realize that now. But I was just trying to give you the best life possible, like I promised your mother. I would never forgive myself if I didn't keep my promise to her. I made sure you attended the best schools, so you would have every advantage in the world, hence that school in London."_

 _"_ _I understand that. But you never came to visit me. I thought you sent me there because I was just a burden to you after mom died?"_

 _"_ _No Lizzie, you were never a burden. Based on your letters it seemed you were thriving, I didn't think you wanted or needed me there."_

 _"_ _I did want you there. I just didn't say anything in those letters because I was afraid you'd be mad at me. I guess I did the same thing as you – I buried myself in school. Why do you think I was valedictorian? I had to do something with my time."_

 _"_ _And you know how proud of you I am right?"_

 _She shrugged and wiped at stray tears._

 _"_ _Lizzie bear. I am so very proud of you. Look at all you have accomplished, all on your own." He reached for her hand again. "But the long and short of it is, I see now what I did. If I had to do it all again, I would. I would have visited you every chance I got. And I don't want to miss out on any more of your life. I've been watching you and Henry since you've been home. He's good for you. I can tell how much you love each other. I used to look at your mom the exact same way he looks at you."_

 _She offered a smile through her sniffles. She did love the way Henry looked at her. "Yesterday in the barn, I watched as he turned your tears into a smile. I realized I don't know how to do that because I haven't spent much time with you. And I want to change that. If you'll let me."_

 _"_ _I'd really like that." She said with a watery smile after a moment._

 _Her father smiled and hugged her, so grateful she was willing to give him a second chance. He wouldn't take it for granted. "Then I insist I take you and Henry out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate your engagement for real. I want to get to know Henry too."_

 _"_ _Not tomorrow Dad."_

 _"_ _And why not?"_

 _"_ _Well tomorrow is Henry's birthday, I've got a whole day planned." She said._

 _Her father smiled. "Okay, the Saturday then."_

 _"_ _Ok. Saturday. And you must leave the phone at home."_

 _"_ _Absolutely. From now on, when I come home and you are here no phone."_

 _"_ _Good."_

 _"_ _One more thing Lizzie. Don't forget that I still owe you a birthday and graduation gift. So you think about it okay sweetheart."_

 _Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Fine."_

 _They hugged once more before a somewhat weird silence filled the air. Elizabeth yawned and rose. "Goodnight Dad." She said but turned before walking into the house. "Thanks for the talk."_

 _"_ _No, thank you Elizabeth, for giving your old man a second chance." He said tearfully. "I promise I won't let you down." He gave her one hug. "Goodnight Lizzie, I love you."_

 _"_ _I love you too." She said after the hug broke and she walked slowly inside, realizing she hadn't said those words to her father in quite some time._

 _A/N: Thank you all for your support! Love reading your reviews. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter._


	5. Chapter 5

Henry had arrived home late from school to find Elizabeth trying to sleep. He couldn't stand fighting with her. He hated that she was hurting and torn, he had never intended to put her in that position. He wanted to apologize, but now was not the time. He didn't want the kids to wake up to an argument.

So he crawled in bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her. He planted a kiss on her cheek and whispered "I love you."

Tears welled in Elizabeth's eyes at his gesture and she turned in his embrace and whispered back and kissed him softly. "I love you too." She closed her eyes ready for sleep to come, as two teardrops rolled down her cheeks.

Saying "I love you" to one another every night was an unspoken promise they had somehow made to one another. The first time they both consciously did it was during the war, after they had an argument of sorts. They always said it, but tonight was one of the few times since they had gone to bed angry with one another, and yet they still kept their promise. It was an unspoken promise they had also made to their children, even when they were in trouble, they would always say "I love you" before bed. Instead of sleep that night, her mind continued to live in the past as it had done all day, remembering those long days in the hospital.

****Promises****

 _The terrifying images on the TV of the Kuwait invasion had dampened the mood on their last few weeks of summer vacation. They both knew what it meant; war. They both knew Henry would be deployed. There was no waiting to choose a graduate school where he was stationed; he'd be stationed in Iraq._

 _At dinner that evening when Henry and Elizabeth had been unusually quiet, John broke the silence. "Why the long faces kids? Did you have a fight?"_

 _"No…" Elizabeth shook her head. "Didn't you hear about the Kuwait invasion today?"_

 _"No, I was in a conference all day. What happened?"_

 _"Iraq invaded Kuwait today." Henry repeated, Elizabeth's sad blue eyes looking up at him._

 _Her father looked confused. Why would they be so upset over this?_

 _"Henry's going to have to go…." Elizabeth cried._

 _John's face dropped. Now it made sense. He didn't know what to say. He just felt overwhelmingly sad, they were much too young to be facing the horrors of a war. To potentially lose one another. He understood it all too well himself. He watched his older brother serve in Vietnam. His own father served in World War II. His father made it out okay, but he was forever changed by the war. His brother was not so lucky, and it pained him to see his sister-in-law try and go on without him. He didn't want that to be Elizabeth. She'd lost so much already._

 _"It will be okay sweetheart." He assured his daughter, it was the only thing he could do. "Maybe he won't have to go." He tried to be optimistic._

 _But of course the optimism was just that. Two weeks later he got the call that he'd be due in New York for training in October and sent off on January. Elizabeth immediately pushed up their wedding. They were going to wait until after she finished her masters, but she couldn't let him leave without being legally bound to him. Her father and his mother rushed to throw them a beautiful wedding at the end of September, even though Elizabeth had insisted it was not necessary. She had said she only wanted a few people and a beautiful dress. That was all she needed. But of course John & Jane wouldn't have it. John even booked them a romantic 10 day honeymoon in Hawaii. _

_Elizabeth would have normally griped about her father's attempt at being too lavish, but the wedding was amazing. She didn't realize it until they got there, but she appreciated and needed that honeymoon more than he could ever know. It was their last 10 days before he would be gone for an undisclosed amount of time and they didn't waste a second making incredible memories on their trip; attempting to start out their marriage on a good note, knowing their first year at least as a married couple would be difficult to spend apart._

 _He held her tightly until the last possible second at the train station. "I promise I'll be back. This is not goodbye, only see you later." He whispered into her hair, praying he was right._

 _"Don't promise me things you can't guarantee." She said sadly._

 _"Baby…"_

 _"Henry, don't."_

 _"But I can promise you. I just know it. I love you too much to not not come back." He said, bending to capture her lips._

 _"I love you too. Promise to write?"_

 _"Everyday." He didn't hesitate_

 _They were interrupted by the announcer making the final boarding call for the train. He squeezed her tightly and savored their last few kisses. "I have to go baby." He said, wiping her tears as she nodded. As he let her go he told her loved her one more time and she told him she loved him too, then he boarded the train._

 _She stood frozen, unable to move as she watched the train move away. She was only vaguely aware of Patrick & Jane behind her, uncharacteristically holding hands. Her father came up behind her after Patrick and Jane had left, his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Lizzie." He whispered, urging her to follow him. "It will be alright."_

 _***Promises*****_

 _They wrote each other everyday, as they promised. But one day, 8 months later, she got a phone call. She had been in her office reviewing a video feed with Conrad Dalton & George Peters; her new boss when the call came in. _

_Her face went pale as she heard the words. She sat frozen in her chair for a few minutes after managing a thank you to the officer on the line and George had to pry the phone from her grip._

 _"Bess?" George asked, it was her nickname at the Company. He'd become like a father to her, taking her under his wing after Conrad had hired her. He didn't have high hopes – an analyst so young, still finishing her masters in the evenings, but she'd proved him wrong in every facet and she was his favorite colleague._

 _It took her a moment to respond. "It's Henry. He's been hurt, they're taking him to Landstuhl." She couldn't believe the words were leaving her mouth._

 _George and Conrad shared a quick glance. "Go. Now." George instructed, knowing she couldn't focus on work again until she knew he was okay. He'd never met Henry McCord. He only knew him by the many photos she had on her desk, but he could tell by the way they looked at each other in the photos that they were meant for one another and that he was a good man. George and Conrad had both told her that they looked forward to meeting him when he returned from Iraq. George had asked Bess once if he played poker, since he did he offered to get a weekly game going._

 _Conrad piped in. "I'll call Landstuhl, let them know you are on the way, I'll make sure you and Henry get the best."_

 _She sat frozen for a moment and nodded. "Thank you." She had called his parents and her father to inform them, promising to call when she had more information and Conrad set her up on the first flight out._

 _When she arrived in Germany, she briefly met with Henry's commander and he explained to her what happened. "Mrs. McCord, I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. Director Dalton told me you were on your way and wanted you to know that if there's anything you need, please just ask."_

 _She blinked at the sound of her own name. It was the first time she'd been called Mrs. McCord. "You too, Henry has always spoken highly of you."_

 _"Henry is the best captain I've ever had. He's a natural in the cockpit." Elizabeth smiled, he was. She could tell the commander was easing her in, judging whether or not she could handle anything beyond the PG version of the story. "Henry is so talented he's been on special missions since he got here. Anyway, his unit was ambushed. He was driving the only plane that didn't get hit. That's how good he is. Upon landing, there were a couple land grenades….that's when the plane got busted up. His injuries aren't life threatening; they treated him for smoke inhalation. And he's had 3 surgeries on his knee so far. He's going to be in pain for a while; and need physical therapy." He explained to her gently. Definitely the PG version . "I'm sure you being here will help him greatly. I can tell how much he loves you; carries your picture around with him like a lost puppy."_

 _Elizabeth smiled, deciding maybe she couldn't handle the details right now, not until she saw Henry was okay. "I couldn't be more thankful that he is okay. May I…'_

 _"Yes, of course." He stood and led her to the room._

 _She couldn't help but tear up at the sight of her strong husband lying in that hospital bed. He had an oxygen tube in his nose, IVs in his arms, and his left leg was in a thick cast, elevated. She opened the door to his room and sat quietly on the chair beside his bed, careful not to wake him. She didn't sit there long before he opened his tired eyes and focused on her. She mustered her best smile, trying to cheer him up. "Hi…" she whispered and decided to test out a little wit. "You'll sure go to a lot of trouble to get me to come visit you…"_

 _"What are you doing here?" he said, his raspy voice laden with anger._

 _She looked at him. Did he really just say that after she flew all night scared to death, not knowing how badly he'd been hurt? "Where else would I be?" she replied softly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world._

 _"You shouldn't be here Elizabeth." He said, turning to look away from her. He knew he shouldn't be angry with her but he was. He knew she would come and he didn't want her to. He didn't want her to see him like this. This wasn't how their reunion was supposed to be. It was supposed to be with him walking off the plane and whisking her into his arms and kissing her like there was no tomorrow. Not with her looking like she hadn't eaten or slept in months, holding his hand in a hospital bed._

 _"Like hell I shouldn't!" she shouted, her emotions and lack of sleep suddenly getting the best of her._

 _"Damn it Elizabeth! You shouldn't be here." He hissed. He couldn't manage to say anything else._

 _"In case you have forgotten, we're married. I've been worried sick about you these past 8 months and I get a call that you were hurt…and I….I had to come and make sure you were okay…I…." she began in a raised tone that quickly turned to sobs._

 _"Well, as you can see I'm fine. I told them to tell you that on the phone."_

 _"Henry, what the hell is wrong with you?" she asked, wondering where her kind, loving husband had gone. As she searched his eyes for an answer she saw pain, sadness, and anger, and she knew instantly knew the war had changed him. She knew his anger was being displaced on her, but that didn't stop it from hurting._

 _She sat down in the chair again, quietly crying. Henry swallowed back his tears and licked his dry lips. He hated her seeing him like this, he hated that he was causing her tears, hated the war even more for changing their lives._

 _After a few minutes she stood and grasped his hand. "I'll leave you for a while so you can rest. But I will be back in the morning." She bent to give him the most tender kiss. "I love you Henry McCord, don't you ever forget that." She whispered before turning to leave._

 _Henry wanted to cry at her tenderness, how accepting she was of his terrible behavior. She was so smart and intuitive; he knew she had come to realize in those few short minutes that he wasn't really angry at her. As she left he gently tugged on her hand and she turned back. "I love you too." He said quietly, he had to at least re-assure her of that before she left. She nodded and continued out the door._

 _After a sleepless night, she returned in the morning with coffee and bagels, not knowing the condition of German hospital food._

 _Henry had only slept due to the pain medications he was on. But he woke up early and called for the nurse to help him clean up and shave. He wanted to be presentable when Elizabeth came back, and he wanted to make an effort to apologize for his behavior the night before._

 _Elizabeth entered the hospital room, set the coffees on the tray table and sat on the edge of his bed. She ran her hand softly against his cheek, noting it was freshly shaved. His eyes opened when he felt her gentle touch and smiled at her. "Hey sleepy. Do you feel any better?" she asked with a soft smile._

 _He didn't speak but nodded his head as he reached for her hand squeezing it tightly._

 _"I brought breakfast." She continued, reaching for the bag, spreading cream cheese on the bagels with the plastic knife. She didn't know how she was going to manage to actually eat her own bagel, her stomach was in knots, anxious about how his mood would be this morning. But he seemed to be in much better spirits versus the previous night, so she took a small bite and forced it down._

 _Henry ate his bagel quickly; wanting to talk with her without any distractions including food. He squeezed her hand as he spoke. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I…I just, it's hard for me for you to see me like this – I never intended…."_

 _"It's nothing to be – "_

 _"Shh. Let me finish." He said, looking down at their joined hands, amazed at her strength. She'd been through so much in her 22 years, he didn't want any part of the war weighing on her slight shoulders. He was her husband, it was his job to protect her from this. And he failed. He got injured, and now she had to come here and see first hand how terrible war really was. "The war, it's hard. Harder than I thought. I just don't want you see it in person, it's one thing you know watching on TV, but it's another to be here. It's hard enough just being apart from you, I just I wanted to protect you from these images. From this image of me."_

 _She nodded. She understood. She couldn't sleep when she was away from him, so she'd used many of those nights to read about PTSD and other disorders that affect soldiers after a war. It scared her, but she wanted to be prepared. She wouldn't let her husband suffer. "I know, I can see it's changed you, that it's hurting you. But it hurts me when it's hurting you, that's why you have to let me help. I'm not a baby, I work for the CIA now for god sakes. I know what's happening here, Henry. I can take it."_

 _"That doesn't mean you should have to."_

 _"Henry. I promised you for better or for worse and you promised it back. We're in this together. You got that? I know we can get through this. I know it." She re-iterated. "I sat with my mother every day while she was sick, until the very end." She continued her voice catching. "And I'm going to do the same thing with you until you are better, every step of the way. I won't let you give up."_

 _He looked into her red rimmed, teary eyes. She had the same confidence he had when he had promised her he would come back to her. He had felt that way when he left her at the train station, invincible, like he could do anything. He had no doubt she would do everything in her power to help him, he just hated that she had to. He was supposed to be invincible, to come home to her unscathed. Even though he felt at fault, he decided right then in there that he had to trust in her that they would get through this, just as she had to trust him that he'd come back to her. He knew it would be hard, but he knew they'd be stronger for it and he had to give it his all. His eyes welled with tears too as he nodded to her, wordlessly accepting her promise. He tugged on her hand, pulling her to lay against his chest._

 _When she was finally wrapped in his arms she sobbed. "Please don't give up Henry. I need you." She quietly begged._

 _"I won't. I promise." He whispered into her ear. "I love you way too much, baby."_

 _AN: Thank you all so much for your reviews! I love reading them :) I know it might seem early to have Elizabeth at the CIA already, but I'm trying to nail down the timeline from the show and I figured to get in the years before being a professor, she had to have started early! Did you all see the photos of filming S2 this week...if not you need to go look, they are adorable!_


	6. Chapter 6

"Sweetheart, eat your cereal please." Elizabeth asked Stevie at the breakfast table while she sprinkled some cherrios on two year old Jason's high chair table.

"But I don't want cereal! I want pancakes." Stevie whined

"Stevie, it's a school day, you know you only get pancakes on the weekend." Elizabeth sighed. She hated fighting with Henry, and Stevie's defiance was not helping matters. Elizabeth closer her eyes and tried to let it go; Stevie didn't deserve her wrath.

"I finished my cereal mommy." Allison bragged, she'd just turned 5 and kept saying how now she was a big girl.

"Good girl." Elizabeth said with a smile. Allison always did as she was told. She was so lucky with her. "Make sure you finish your juice, okay."

"Suck up." Stevie eyed her little sister. Allison stuck her tongue out at Stevie.

Elizabeth poured herself a mug of coffee and one for her husband, luckily missing the exchange between the girls. Henry had heard the conversation though as he descended the stairs and said. "Stevie, mom is right. If you finish your cereal, I'll make you blueberry pancakes this weekend instead of regular." He offered and Stevie immediately started eating her cereal.

Elizabeth sighed and handed Henry a cup of coffee, Stevie always listened to him. Henry had always had a way with Stevie, from the day she was born. The Stevie Whisperer as she would call him. She kissed him goodbye. "Have a good day."

"You too." He smiled sadly, his hands lingering on her hips a moment longer than they should have. But he was trying to show her he was sorry for their fight.

She kissed all of her children goodbye as she headed out the door. Stevie tried to pull away from her – her pre-teenage behavior of being too cool to kiss her mother goodbye had already started.

She kissed Jason's head. "Bye bye mama" he said and continued to eat his cheerios, more of them ending up on the floor than in his mouth.

As she headed out the door Allison ran to her with a brown paper lunch bag with the word "Mommy" written in red crayon. "Wait mommy! I packed you a snack."

She bent down to her daughter's level to retrieve the bag. "That's very nice sweetheart, thank you."

"It's cookies." She said. "Cookies always make me feel better when I'm sad."

"They do don't they?" Elizabeth agreed with her daughter, giving her one hug, hating that Ally had picked up on her mood. "You have a good day sweetheart. I love you."

*******Promises*********

 _Henry had spent a week in the hospital in Landsthul before they felt he was ready to fly home. His inability to walk had earned him desk duty for his remaining 15 months of duty. He'd be stationed in New York, working at the base there to help with special training for pilots – since he was so good at it and also dabbled in some intelligence work in helping to develop the missions._

 _Henry had been grateful for the assignment, although he did not like that he was not able to actually fly the planes due to his injury for a while._

 _Henry took his recovery very seriously; bound and determined to be the man Elizabeth married by the time he would return home to Virginia. He met with counselors and never missed a physical therapy appointment. They traded their letters for daily phone calls now that they were in the same time zone. He had been granted a weekend leave for his 1 year anniversary and Elizabeth took the train up to New York to visit him._

 _They met the Waldorf Astoria hotel and if she had any doubts about his physical recovery; they were put to rest when he swept her up and onto the bed the moment she entered the room. It was difficult to pry themselves from the bed and go out to dinner and to the play he'd gotten tickets for, but they did and had a wonderful time. "11 more months." He assured her as she left for Virginia 3 days later. "We can make it." And she knew they could, so impressed with his progress._

 _For her part, back at Langley, true to form, Elizabeth dealt with the absence of her husband by diving deep into her work at the CIA, putting in tons of OT, actively analyzing the rapidly situation in the middle east; confident that if she could figure it out – it would be a better situation for all involved in the war. And if she could continue to figure out the clues Saddam Hussein's men were providing, she could prevent a war al together. At least that is what she had convinced herself of, feeling she was doing her part to help. After seeing what the war had done to her husband, she didn't want any other families going through what they were._

 _When he returned home, they had the reunion Henry had imagined, although it held more meaning. He'd returned home not unscathed, but better and stronger than when he'd left. It was celebratory in a way they didn't imagine when he'd left; a testament to their commitment to one another. They'd spent the next 2 years happy and in love, making up for lost time, slowly building the foundation of their life. They had a modern townhouse in the city; so they could enjoy evening walks to the ice cream shoppe, dinners out, weekly poker games with their CIA friends, and impromptu movie dates. They furiously tried their best to recreate their college bubble, during at home time at least, where the horrors of war and the outside world were pushed far away._

 _During those years, Henry continued to teach flight class for Marine & Air Force pilots at Andrews while he went to finish his PhD, seeking the context of past religious conflicts to deepen his understanding of the war he participated in. He was generally at peace with it, but still thinking about it in new ways was a continued therapy. Elizabeth also took classes a few nights a week, while she finished her PhD in international relations, still having an interest in possibly teaching someday and moved through the company ranks very quickly. _

_By the time they reached their 4_ _th_ _anniversary they both had completed their educations; Henry was now teaching full time at UVA, and Elizabeth tossed out the idea that Henry had been thinking about for a while now. "I'm ready to have a baby."_

 _******Promises******_

 _6 months later Elizabeth angrily slammed the door as she entered their townhouse after work._

 _"Hi honey." Henry called; hearing the door slam from their home office as he graded papers._

 _"Hi." She said; unshed tears in her eyes._

 _"What's wrong?" he asked immediately_

 _She reached hastily into her work bag and tossed a box of tampons on the desk._

 _Henry sighed, taking off his glasses. "Okay….babe…." She walked over to him, and sat on his lap. "What's going on?"_

 _"I'm just frustrated." She confessed. "I mean, why I am not pregnant yet? It's been 6 months! We've been having sex A LOT."_

 _"I'm not complaining about that." He winked at her sex comment._

 _Finally a smile. "Me either. But…"_

 _"But what?"_

 _"Well….what if there's something wrong? What if I have cancer?"_

 _"Honey, you do not have cancer." He said._

 _"You don't know….my mother had a hard time getting pregnant, it's how they found out she had ovarian cancer. It can be hereditary you know." She said and he could tell she was legitimately paranoid about this._

 _"Honey, you just turned 26. You do not have cancer. But if it makes you feel better – make a doctor appointment and we'll get everything checked out okay?"_

 _"Okay." She agreed and settled in for a hug and they shared a quick kiss._

 _The next week she and Henry had visited the doctor, both submitting blood samples for testing._

 _"Good afternoon." Dr. Miller said as he entered the room, holding her chart._

 _They couple smiled at the doctor. He had been Elizabeth's OB for several years and she trusted him greatly. "Elizabeth, I have your test results back and you don't have cancer." He eyed her with a slight smirk at her overreaction._

 _"Oh thank god." She breathed._

 _"Actually you are in perfect health. And Henry's tests came back fine too. Based on this I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to get pregnant."_

 _Henry shot Elizabeth a look, hating to say I told you so, but she caught on and frowned at him._

 _"My advice to you is to stop worrying about it so much." He smiled at them. "I know you are very impatient. Just relax and try to enjoy this time. It will happen. Okay?"_

 _Elizabeth offered a small smile and nodded. "Thank you."_

 _*******Promises********_

 _Shortly after their 5_ _th_ _anniversary; Elizabeth had been feeling unusually sick. It had been busy at work, so she chalked it up to lack of sleep and the fall back to school season; assuming Henry had inadvertently brought home on the flu bug. There were days she felt ok, but overall she just couldn't seem to shake it._

 _"Are you feeling alright?" Conrad asked Elizabeth while in a meeting in his office? She looked a little pale._

 _She thought about lying, but this was the CIA after all, her boss could surely tell she was not herself. "Truthfully, no. But I'm sure it's nothing. I'm just a little run down."_

 _Conrad smiled at her, even though he didn't believe her as her face turned even more pale and she bolted from the room with a quick "excuse me", thankful she made it to the bathroom in time to empty her stomach. She sucked in a few deep breaths and splashed her face with cold water before returning to the meeting._

 _"Just a little run down?" George questioned when he returned._

 _"Maybe more than a little." She changed her mind. "I'll try and see if I can get in the doctors at lunch."_

 _"Why don't you just go home after your appointment?" Conrad suggested._

 _"But I –"she protested_

 _"Take the afternoon off. You've been working late a lot this month." He decided. He knew Elizabeth wasn't putting two and two together yet, but despite her paleness he noticed a glow in her eyes. The same glow his wife had when she was first pregnant with Harrison._

 _She wanted to continue to argue, but she had been putting in a lot of hours and she was feeling terrible. Maybe an afternoon in bed would do her some good. It was usually all she needed to feel better; a nap._

 _When she had called the doctor to make the appointment when she got back to her office she thumbed through her calendar, when they'd asked her for the date of her last period. "Umm" she said; realizing it should have been this week, but it was already Friday and there were no dots on her calendar yet. Could she be pregnant? Could it finally be happening?_

 _"Elizabeth." Dr. Miller greeted; walking into the room with her file. "I understand you've been feeling a little sick?"_

 _She smiled nervously, fidgeting with her bracelets. "More than a little." She admitted._

 _"Well my dear you are probably going to feel sick a while longer." He prefaced, not able to contain his smile any longer. "Because you are just about 5 weeks pregnant."_

 _Elizabeth's eyes widened and her lips curled into a tearful smile. "Really? Oh my god."_

 _"Due July 2. Congratulations." He smiled, taking a seat and handing her a tissue._

 _Elizabeth couldn't speak for a moment as she processed. She wished more than anything that Henry had been in the room to hear the news._

 _"Why don't you lay back so I can run a quick ultrasound and give you some photos to take home."_

 _She nodded and laid back as he instructed, still unable to speak. He warmed the wand in his hand as he spread the jelly over her very flat stomach. It took him a moment, but soon a grainy dot appeared on the screen and he pointed it out to her. "There is your baby." Elizabeth was elated, but slightly underwhelmed by the photo. "I know it doesn't look like much, but it's very early on. On the next one, the dot will be bigger." He said, printing them off._

 _"Thank you." She said, slipping the photos in her purse._

 _"Now, Elizabeth. You may not realize it but right now that morning sickness of yours is actually a good sign. It means your hormones are working hard. So just try and eat what you can, when you can, and rest often. I'll see you back here in another month or so for a checkup. If you need absolutely anything or are unsure about something, call the office, okay? On your way out they'll give you a list of foods to avoid and your prescription for prenatal vitamins."_

 _Leaving the office, Elizabeth glanced at her watch, very happy when she realized Henry should be home when she arrived. On Fridays he had only one morning lecture and office hours._

 _"You're home early." he looked up from his laptop from his seat on the couch, concerned "Still feeling sick?"_

 _She nodded as she hung up her coat. "After I threw up in the middle of a meeting, Conrad sent me home."_

 _"Babe, you should go to the doctor."_

 _"Just got back from there, actually." She said, her ability to contain her smile was fading._

 _"What did he say? Did he give you something?" he asked as she took the seat beside him on the couch. When she sat he immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulder._

 _"He did give me something." She confirmed, reaching into her blazer pocket for the ultrasound photos and placed them on the coffee table in front of them._

 _Henry reached his hand out and picked up one of the photos; his eyes darting back and forth from hers to the photo. "Really?" he said, surprised in a good way._

 _She offered a tearful, happy smile. "Yeah."_

 _"That's fantastic!" Henry beamed, he couldn't think of anything else he could say to express his happiness so he cupped her cheek and in to kiss her so softly. "I love you." He said, then moved his hand down to rest on her stomach. "And I love you too."_

 _Elizabeth smiled at him and kissed his lips once more before resting her head on his shoulder. "_ _ **We**_ _love you too."_

 _Henry held up the photo and they both looked at it closely. Elizabeth had been slightly underwhelmed when the doctor first pointed out the small white dot, thinking it would be bigger. But the longer she stared at the photo the more amazed she was by it and the more it sunk in. They were finally having a baby. "It's crazy isn't it? That little dot is somewhere inside me." she said, pointing at the dot to Henry. "And it's going to turn into a baby by summer."_

 _"It is kind of crazy." He agreed. "But it's_ _ **our**_ _little dot."_

 _Elizabeth couldn't remember how long she sat wrapped in her husband's arms, both of them staring in awe at their little white dot._

 _*****Promises******_

 _A month or so later Henry and Elizabeth were packing up their suitcases to spend Thanksgiving weekend on the farm. His parents were driving down from Pittsburgh too. It was a little tradition they started when Henry had gotten home from Iraq, offering a way to spend the holidays with both sides of the family. Luckily the farm had more than enough space._

 _"Do you think we should make an announcement?" Henry asked, they had talked about doing it at Christmas, when she would be just reaching the end of her first trimester, just in case._

 _"We might have too, especially if I can't manage to eat any of my Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow."_

 _"That's true. But I think it's okay if we tell them; they're family right?"_

 _"It has been kind of nice though, just having it between us." She admitted. Since she'd been so sick, they had declined so many offers from friends to eat out or do things on the weekend, to avoid spilling the beans on their secret. Of course Conrad & George knew, they had figured it out, but she was glad they knew; she needed the flexibility while she fought through the all day morning sickness. She was their best analyst, and they both wanted her happy so they purposely kept her workload down without consulting her. She'd normally have argued with them and say she could handle it; but she'd been so exhausted she didn't have the energy and obediently went home promptly at 4pm daily and was usually in bed by 9 at the latest. _

_"It has." Henry agreed and pulled her into his arms after zipping her suitcase. "But in all seriousness I really hope you start to feel better soon. I know it's been draining."_

 _On Thanksgiving morning Elizabeth managed a slice of toast before they hit the road. The drive wasn't long, but she had to fight through a couple waves of nausea on the way to the farm. "I think we're going to have to tell them." Elizabeth decided on the way, her stomach in knots._

 _Henry nodded and laughed slightly. "I don't know why this worries you, they're going to be elated."_

 _"I know." She agreed, trying to use that thought to calm her stomach. She knew they were almost there and she tried to hold out, but when they had reached the dirt road, she couldn't hold out any longer. "Henry stop!" she cried and he did, just in time for her to open her door and empty her stomach. When she was through he handed her a water bottle, and she washed out her mouth before pulling the door shut. "Gum?" she asked_

 _He handed her a stick, and rubbed her shoulder. "Better?"_

 _She nodded as she chewed the gum, preparing for the onslaught of hugs she would receive when they arrived. She hoped her stomach could hold out until dinner._

 _Alice & Jane had spent all day cooking a feast while the Henry, Patrick & John watched football. Jane and Alice wouldn't let Elizabeth in the kitchen, but Henry helped with a few things and checked on them often. Elizabeth spent the day watching the football game for a while and then went out to the stable to visit with her first baby, Secretariat. _

_Luckily, Elizabeth had been the one to set the table and she was able to fill her wine glass with grape juice without anyone noticing, while filling everyone else's with real wine._

 _When they sat down at dinner they had been going around the table saying what each was thankful for. When it got to be Henry's turn, he turned to his wife and she smiled at him, giving him silent permission to make an announcement. He grasped her hand as he began to speak. "This year, as always, there's so much to be thankful for. I am really enjoying my new teaching job but what I am most thankful for, or rather what Elizabeth & I are most thankful for is," he began looking at her, pausing before finishing, "the new baby we are expecting this summer!"_

 _Elizabeth smiled at Henry as he shared their news and waited for the parents' reaction. Everyone was silent for a second. Did Henry just announce that they would all be becoming grandparents? They'd all been secretly waiting for an announcement since Henry returned from the Iraq, and now it had been made._

 _It was Jane who spoke first, tears forming in her eyes. "Well, I think I can speak for everyone at the table when I say, I've revised my thankful statement to be thankful for my first grandchild." She said then stood to go give Elizabeth a hug._

 _Elizabeth and Henry both stood up, accepting hugs and congratulations from everyone at the table. Sitting back down, Elizabeth wiped at her eyes with her napkin and waited for everyone to settle back down._

 _"I say we have a toast." John said, holding up his wine glass. "To our wonderful children, and future grandchild."_

 _They all reached up and clicked glasses. "Hold up. Elizabeth my darling that had better not be wine in that glass." Alice scolded._

 _"It's grape juice. Just a little tradecraft to get us through until the announcement." She said, taking a small sip as soft laughter emerged_

 _"So tell us all the details Elizabeth, when is the due date? How have you been feeling?" Patrick prompted; surprising everyone._

 _"The due date is July 2, which is perfect. Henry will be off for the summer so we can both be home with the baby for a while."_

 _"That will be wonderful! We can come in for a couple weeks and help." Jane offered._

 _Elizabeth smiled. "But as of right now I'm almost 8 weeks, so it's still pretty early, so we don't want to share this with anyone else until Christmas."_

 _"Oh that is early dear. You must have just found out."_

 _"No, actually we found out a few weeks ago. Super early, since Elizabeth has been so sick. But we weren't totally surprised. We had been trying for just about a year when we found out." Henry added._

 _"Yes, it's been quite miserable. Other than the day we found out, and today, telling you guys, I haven't felt the happy feeling I'm supposed to…"_

 _"That will come dear." Jane promised. "And I know you might feel terrible right now, but you are certainly glowing."_

 _"I am?" Elizabeth couldn't see it. And she sure didn't feel glowing. "George and Conrad said the same thing. They noticed it before I even found out I was pregnant. Damn CIA."_

AN: Thank you all so much for the continues reviews & messages. I love hearing your feedback; it makes me so happy that you are all enjoying this! Next Chapter preview: More babies!


	7. Chapter 7

_Even though Jane had assured her she'd begin to feel better; she never did. Her entire pregnancy with Stevie had been miserable._

 _"Am I waddling?" she whined to her husband one Saturday night in mid-June as she walked to the bed, her hands supporting back._

 _"No. You look adorable." He said sincerely. Even though she had been complaining, she was adorable. She hadn't gained much weight; only in her belly. She looked like she was walking around with a basketball under her shirt._

 _"You're obligated to say that." She whined some more. "Will you rub my back again, it's really hurting?"_

 _"It doesn't make it less true." He said as she settled on the bed and he crawled up behind her to massage her back. "Feel better?"_

 _She nodded and leaned into his touch. She'd been complaining about her back and her cramps all day. After her massage she nested herself in the pillows and threw off the covers, hoping after a good sleep she'd feel better. It had been an unseasonably hot June thus far, and being pregnant was not helping. She had a fan blowing directly on her face and the a/c maxed out, causing Henry to practically sleep in a parka behind her._

 _She awoke at 10:30pm to a sharper pain. Wincing to not wake her husband, she rolled on her side trying to alleviate it. When it didn't go away and another stung just a few minutes later she frantically woke up her husband. "Henry…..wake up." She begged, tapping him with her right hand._

 _"Mmm, what babe?" he said groggily._

 _"I think I just had a contraction."_

 _Henry was immediately wide awake. "Are you sure?"_

 _"How should I know, I've never had one before!" she cried and then another one came and she hissed. Henry grabbed her hand and encouraged her to breathe._

 _When it was over he said, "Come on. Let's go to the hospital, just in case."_

 _He silently thanked god that he had made her pack her hospital bag last week and kept it in the trunk of the Jeep. By the time they made it the short drive to the hospital, tears were streaming down her face from the pain and she was relieved to see Dr. Miller on call that evening._

 _"But it's too soon!" she reminded, it was 3 weeks early. She was supposed to have more time to mentally prepare herself for this moment._

 _"A little. But I can't stop your labor my dear, you are too far along – almost 7 centimeters." Dr. Miller said. "But I can get you that epidural if you like."_

 _"Oh, yes please." She groaned._

 _"I'll be right back."_

 _After the doctor gave her the shot; her pain quickly subsided and she finally calmed a bit. She laid back in the bed and closed her eyes as her doctor suggested, encouraging her to rest until it was time to push. Henry climbed in bed beside her and put his hand over hers on her belly. "We're going to meet our baby tonight. That's exciting, isn't it?" He asked, trying to ease her nerves._

 _She nodded tiredly. "And terrifying."_

 _"It will be okay." He promised her._

 _"Henry, what time is it?"_

 _"11:30." He replied. "Close your eyes sweetheart."_

 _"Henry….the baby's birthday will be on father's day." She realized._

 _He smiled at this, kissing her forehead. "You're right. What a wonderful present."_

 _Henry was so supportive; he sat behind her, gripping her hands tightly as she pushed. Even though she wasn't in much pain from the epidural, he could feel her body tense and each time and filled her ears with encouragement each time she collapsed against him utterly exhausted as he dabbed her forehead with a cool cloth in between each push. After 40 minutes of pushing, they first heard their baby cry just after 2am on Father's Day._

 _"It's a girl!" Dr. Miller said as he suctioned the baby's nose and mouth._

 _She turned her head as best as she could to kiss her husband when they heard the news. They had wanted to be surprised. "Oh my god." She smiled breathlessly._

 _He kissed her happily and squeezed her shoulders. "Amazing."_

 _She'd only seen her husband cry on two occasions; on their wedding day and the day she visited him in the hospital in Germany. She vaguely remembered him wiping at his tears as he had gotten up, kissing her and telling her how much he loved her as he settled her back against many pillows so he could cut the cord and watch over their newborn daughter as the nurses cleaned and examined her._

 _The time between when Henry had cut the cord and when she was able to nestle in his soothing embrace while holding their new baby was a blur. She may have passed out. She only remembered complaining she was suddenly so cold and she had a terrible case of the shakes, which Dr. Miller assured her was completely normal. She knew she had gotten stitches somewhere in there too, but she couldn't actually remember when._

 _All she remembered was Henry slipping on her wrap sweater to help keep her arms warm, and scooting her over a bit, making room for himself on the bed, her legs still numb. He had wrapped his arm around her shoulder, letting her settle in then the nurse carefully placed the baby on her chest wearing only her diaper and a pink knit hat, draping her with a warm blanket. She had explained that it was important for the baby's skin to be touching Elizabeth's skin to keep warm, especially since she was slightly premature._

 _The doctor had dimmed the lights before he left the room, allowing the new parents some quiet time to get acquainted with their baby, and the nurse came in every 15 minutes to check on them._

 _She remembered being completely in awe and Henry smiling as he watched her meet her daughter. Henry had been first to hold the baby while they finished caring for his wife and he proudly wore the baby's tiny footprints on his arm. While reluctant to return her to the nurse, he couldn't wait to see his wife hold their sweet baby for the first time. Elizabeth's shaking arms wrapped around her tiny baby girl. "Hi." She whispered, planting a kiss to the baby's forehead as gently as she could. "She's okay?" she asked Henry quietly as she observed her daughter, nervous that something was wrong after she'd arrived early and so quickly._

 _"She's perfectly healthy." Henry assured her, having protectively watched her as the nurses checked everything. "Just a little small, only six pounds exactly."_

 _"She is so tiny." Elizabeth agreed in a whisper, she hadn't remembered babies ever being that small that she had held previously. The baby snuggled her head against Elizabeth and curled her little fingers around Henry's pinky that he held out to her. "It's strange isn't it?" she pondered aloud. "How did she fit inside my belly? And earlier today she was still in there, and now she's here."_

 _Henry laughed quietly and kissed her cheek. "It's pretty amazing. You are pretty amazing."_

 _They couldn't take their eyes away from their baby, fascinated with every little movement or sound. At one point the baby opened her eyes for just one second, looking up at her parents and promptly yawned and went right back to sleep._

 _"Henry, did you see? She has blue eyes." Elizabeth smiled, fingering the soft pink cap._

 _"Just like yours." He agreed, kissing his wife. "She's just as beautiful as you my love."_

 _"Do you think she looks like a Stephanie?" she asked, it was the girl's name they'd chosen, but of course they wanted to get a good look at her and make sure it fit._

 _"Definitely."_

 _"Well then baby girl, I guess that is your name. Stephanie Anne McCord. I hope you like it." Elizabeth told her daughter._

 _When Elizabeth had finally fallen asleep, she vaguely remembered Henry staying awake all night. He had felt an immense responsibility to stay awake and watch over his girls, making sure they were both okay. He had held Stephanie all night while Elizabeth dozed on and off, constantly being interrupted and checked on by the nurses wanting to press on her stomach. She heard little rumblings from Henry as he whispered stories to Stephanie. She had no idea what he had told her that night, but it was clear that the father and daughter bond had started early, as Stevie would always favor her father._

 _She didn't know it but he had been telling Stephanie about how wonderful the world was, and how he couldn't wait for her to experience everything in it. He'd never been more serious about his duty as a husband and new father as he was that night; fiercely watching over his beautiful wife and tiny daughter._

 _The days in the hospital were hard; she couldn't get any rest with the nurses constantly coming in wanting to check her or the baby and the constant stream of visitors. She and Henry chatted on the phone with his parents and they promised to come to town as soon as they were settled at home._

 _Later in the afternoon her father had come, bearing a large bouquet of flowers and a cuddly pink teddy bear. "Hi sweetheart." He greeted, bending over the hospital bed to kiss her. "Feeling okay?"_

 _She nodded, she was sore and tired but overall her happiness outweighed her pain. Elizabeth had been holding the baby when he walked in and he peered down. "Oh Lizzie, she's just perfect." He gushed over his sleeping granddaughter. "What's her name?"_

 _Elizabeth smiled and lifted her up slightly, offering her to her father. "Say hello to your grandpa, Stephanie Anne." She said._

 _"Lizzie…." He said, accepting his first grandchild with tears in his eyes. It meant the world to him that they had given her the middle name Anne, after Elizabeth's mother._

 _*****Promises*******_

 _The following day they were released from the hospital and Henry carefully loaded up the many gifts and flowers from their friends and family while Elizabeth carefully secured Stephanie in the car seat. She opted to sit in the back of the Jeep with her while Henry drove. He'd never driven more carefully; and glanced at them every few seconds in the rear view mirror._

 _When they arrived home, Elizabeth whispered into her daughter's ear as Henry held the door open for them. "Welcome home baby girl."_

 _Henry led them into each room of their home, giving their new daughter a tour of her residence. When they finally reached the nursery, Henry took Stephanie from his wife's arms. "Ready to see it?" he asked. He'd been keeping the nursery door closed for the past 8 months. It was his surprise to Elizabeth. She hadn't yet seen the nursery and now she and Stephanie would see it for the first time._

 _John had stayed at the hospital for a few hours with them the previous day, allowing Henry to come home and place the finishing touches on the nursery; now that they knew the baby's gender and name and make sure the house was spotless for their arrival home. He'd also gotten groceries to sustain them a few days and even changed the sheets on their bed so Elizabeth could get some real rest._

 _He opened the door that contained a large pink bow tied around it. "Oh, Henry!" she gasped, tears welling in her eyes "It's perfect."_

 _Henry stood in the center of the room rocking Stevie as Elizabeth walked around, taking in every detail. It was painted a soft mint green and had white paneling, beautiful white furnishings and a large bookcase filled with all of the classics from Dr. Suess, The Bearenstien Bears and any others you could think of._

 _She opened the drawers of the dresser and found all of the tiny baby clothes freshly washed and folded, diapers and wipes stacked neatly by the changing table and in the corner were two cozy, rocking lazy boy chairs with soft pink blankets draped over them._

 _Henry had even crafted a beautiful handmade toy box in the corner, filled with all the toys from their baby shower with all the stuffed animals sitting neatly on top of it, just waiting to be played with. Finally, Elizabeth fingered the soft blankets that lay in the crib that they had chosen together and noticed the pink letters on the wall above the crib that spelled Stephanie. Tapping her fingers to the animals that hung from the mobile she walked to her husband and kissed him. "Thank you."_

 _He wrapped an arm around her, the other arm holding their daughter. "I'm glad you like it." He said, planting a kiss to her lips._

 _"It's more than I ever imagined." She admitted. "I love you."_

 _"Love you too babe."_

 _She pulled away and went to sit in one of the recliners, holding her arms out for her daughter. Henry handed her the baby and sat beside her in the second chair. "See why I got 2 chairs."_

 _"Pure genius, professor."_

 _Stephanie needed to be fed every three hours, seeing as it was nearly time for another feeding she loosened the swaddle and Henry passed her a burp cloth. "You hungry baby girl?" she asked and Stevie looked up at her with her big blue eyes. Elizabeth pulled her tank top down her shoulder to try breastfeeding. She was happy when her daughter latched on without any fussing and she leaned back, slowly rocking as Stevie ate. Henry watched in awe, and then got up to retrieve a book from the shelf._

 _As she burped Stevie and rocked her back to sleep, Henry quietly read them "Goodnight Moon"._

 _When the book was done, Stevie was fast asleep and he caught Elizabeth yawning. "You should take a long nap, babe."_

 _"But she needs to eat in another three hours." She said tiredly._

 _"I'll feed her." Henry offered. "We have a few bottles you pumped earlier in the fridge."_

 _"Okay." She agreed. "But when will you sleep?"_

 _"Come on." He said, helping her up. "I'm a Marine. I can stay up for days."_

 _"But –"_

 _"Stop. Your body needs rest." He said._

 _In their bedroom, he laid Stevie down in the bassinet they would use until she was off the 3 hour feedings and helped his wife into her pajamas. When she laid down she noticed the clean sheets. "Wow…clean sheets?"_

 _"Just taking good care of my wife and daughter." He smiled and kissed her lips._

 _"You always do. I want to snuggle with you…."_

 _Henry stripped down to his boxers and slid into bed, snuggling her as she quickly fell asleep. It was nearly 11am when she fell asleep. Luckily Stephanie slept too, and Henry managed to sleep until 1pm when he awoke for the next feeding. He slept again until 4pm when he fed the baby again while Elizabeth still hadn't moved an inch._

 _After the 4pm feeding he showered, changed and went to the kitchen, setting his daughter up in her carrier on the counter. "Now Stephanie, you are in for a treat. Daddy is going to cook mommy a fancy dinner and you get to watch." Stephanie made a noise and kicked her feet happily as if she was excited to see her father cook._

 _Henry worked quietly in the kitchen, his daughter's eyes following him as he moved about. He prepared roasted chicken, fresh garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans and set the table; candles, wine and all. His wife hadn't felt good for the past 8 months and now that she was finally feeling better and up to a real meal, he wanted to surprise her celebrate the birth of their new baby._

 _Sometime around 6pm Elizabeth woke up to find her husband and daughter missing. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, feeling more like herself than she had in the past 8 months and padded toward the bathroom to take a quick hot shower before going in search of her family._

 _On her way downstairs, he noticed Stephanie's door was open and she peered inside, watching Henry burp Stephanie before laying her in her crib and turning on the mobile so it danced above her head. She smiled as she watched how good he was with her._

 _"Hey, have a nice nap?" he asked her, noticing her presence, as he grabbed the baby monitor._

 _She nodded and leaned into kiss him. "You are a wonderful father. Thank you for letting me sleep."_

 _"You're a wonderful mother. You took care of our baby for 8 months." He said, fingering her slight remaining bump. "The least I can do is stand duty while you nap."_

 _She smirked and he lead her down the stairs. "You showered." He said, picking up on the faint strawberry smell of her shampoo_

 _"So did you."_

 _"Well you see I sort of have this date tonight."_

 _She looked at him quizzically, and then tears sprung to her eyes as he lead her into the kitchen where she smelled the roasted chicken and saw the candle lit table. "Henry….."_

 _"Come on, dinner's ready." He smiled at her and pulled out her chair as he pulled the food from the oven where it was being kept warm and loaded up their plates._

 _"Henry, this is too much. You really shouldn't have…."_

 _"Nonsense. Now that you're feeling better I wanted to cook you a special meal and have you enjoy it. Besides. It's our first night home, as a family of three. I thought a celebration was in order." He said softly._

 _"I love you." She replied, clicking her wine glass to his, wondering how on earth she had gotten so lucky._

 _"I love you too." He said, leaning in for a soft kiss._

 _*****Promises*****_

Elizabeth needed a break. She'd been furiously re-figuring her Baghdad report all morning. It was over 500 pages.

She eyed the brown paper bag with the cookies from Allison with the words "Mommy" and smiled.

She grabbed a refill on her coffee before setting back behind her desk and pulled the cookies from the bag. Allison had packed her several types of cookies she had made with her babysitter, Miss Janey the previous day; sugar cookies drenched in pink frosting; chocolate chip and peanut butter.

As she nibbled on the delicious cookies she eyed the various photos on her desk. There was photos of she and Henry at their wedding; photos of all her children, one of her, Henry & Stevie in Paris when she was a baby and several others. As she studied the photo of her family in Paris, she couldn't help but notice how happy they were back then. They were carefree; the memories of Desert Storm far behind them, making new ones with their baby daughter.

Then there was a photo of them taken recently; at Jason's second birthday party. She was smiling and so was Henry, but they didn't look as happy as they were in the earlier photos. It was apparent they still loved each other; but the past few years had clearly taken their toll. If she truly thought about it, she realized that their argument 2 days ago hadn't been what she was so upset about.

It had just been her breaking point. As she stared at the photo of Jason's birthday party, she realized it was just after 9/11 that it had started going so wrong.

She suddenly knew exactly what she needed to do.


	8. Chapter 8

_Blissfully happy. It was how she would have described the summer they spent together following Stevie's birth. She'd been so grateful for her 3 month maternity leave; the government certainly did have it's benefits. Henry had been so grateful that he got to spend the first 3 months of his daughter's life with no interruptions from work of any kind. It was just the three of them and they cherished every second._

 _Upon arriving back to work; Elizabeth had skillfully hid her tears from saying goodbye to Stevie for the first time with carefully applied makeup. She knew Stevie was in good hands, Alice's. Alice had taken great care of her as a child and was lucky her father insisted she do the same, as he truthfully didn't need her at the farm. So her father continued to pay her; and assigned her to Elizabeth's everyday. Alice couldn't have been more thrilled._

 _Just as Elizabeth cluttered her desk with photos of her precious baby girl, Conrad had called her into the office and told her that he wanted her to run their Paris office, and she'd need to move in 3 months._

 _She sprung the news on Henry that night, and much to her surprise he fully supported it. He said his first week back hadn't been as he'd hoped. He was thrilled at the opportunity to live abroad in Europe and study all of the ancient churches and texts. He told her after the fall semester he could take a sabbatical, and study at the Divinity school in Paris and start writing a novel he'd been thinking about._

 _As soon as Henry was on board she got excited; she couldn't wait to show him were she'd spent her adolescence and re-discover the beauty of Europe with her husband and daughter._

 _Shortly after Stevie's first Christmas, they packed up their things, Alice in tow, and set off for Paris._

 _It had been an amazing 3 years. Even though Stevie was a very colicky and fussy baby, they managed. She would always behave for Henry and since he had to spend so much time calming her down, he earned his first B in school. As Stevie got older, she became less fussy and would cooperate for her mother most of the time too, and Henry was back to straight A's._

 _Elizabeth thrived at work, running ops, managing the office and improving their work output. Henry had even started to dabble in some NSA work from time to time; short week long ops in between semesters and loved it._

 _But at home, they behaved like a normal family. They took walks every evening to either the ice cream stand or café nearby, never able to soak up enough of the beautiful Parisian lights. They took summer vacations to Cannes, Italy, London and Greece. Her boarding school friends became their social circle and they welcomed Henry into their group with open arms. They'd subconsciously created their own little bubble once again, with no outside forces to disrupt their happiness._

 _But as Stevie got older, they noticed she spoke just as good French as she did English, since Elizabeth and Henry spoke both while living in Paris. They had decided that they needed to be back to the states before she entered pre-school to she could have a normal school experience._

 _Conrad abided by her wishes; she'd gotten the office back to above average standards, so someone else could easily manage it from there._

 _They enjoyed one last summer in Paris, before returning home to Virginia where Stevie could start pre-school just 3 months after she turned 4._

 _*****Promises*****_

 _As they tearfully waved to their daughter as she ran into her pre-school classroom her blonde pigtails bouncing, Elizabeth couldn't help but think of the moment she held her for the first time. She suddenly longed for a snuggly baby once again._

 _After Stevie went to bed that night after babbling on and on about how much she liked school and about all of her new friends, her parents were left alone in the living room._

 _Elizabeth got up and fingered the framed photo of a newborn Stevie. "Seems like just yesterday, doesn't it?"_

 _Henry came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle as he rested her head on her shoulder. "Sometimes….like today, it does."_

 _"I miss baby snuggles." She said softly. Henry smiled and turned her in his embrace. She looked up at him and said. "Maybe it's time to have another baby."_

 _He bent down to kiss her gently. "Maybe it is." He agreed, kissing her again. They continued to kiss and then somehow made their way to their bedroom. They moved together slowly and gently, taking their time, letting each other know how much they loved each other._

 _"Do you think we did it?" she asked him as she lay curled and exhausted in his arms_

 _"Time will tell." He said. "But we could do it again, just to be sure."_

 _She giggled and leaned in to kiss him, their exploration beginning once more. She didn't know it at the time, but there was already a tiny clump of cells multiplying in her belly, one that was formed their first weekend back in the states just a month ago. The weekend she'd forgotten her pills in the midst of unpacking and settling back in._

 _******Promises*******_

 _Unlike her pregnancy with Stevie, her pregnancy with Allison had been a breeze. She had very few bouts of morning sickness and had the glow everyone talked about. She'd been just as surprised as her husband when they told her she was nearly 3 months along when they she first realized she was pregnant, telling her she'd be due at the end of March. She thought for sure it would take a year, as it had with Stevie._

 _Elizabeth was resting on the couch, enjoying a predictable lifetime movie one Saturday afternoon when she felt the eerily familiar sting of pain in her belly 3 weeks to early. She grabbed the phone that was beside her on the couch, dialing her father. "Dad…I need to you come…yea. No I'm sure. Hurry."_

 _Stevie had been playing with her dolls upstairs, so luckily she did not see her mother's discomfort. In between contractions she stood and went in search of her husband, not wanting to scream for him and alarm her daughter. She found him in his office, grading mid-terms. "Honey…." She said, clutching her belly._

 _He could tell by the way she said Honey that something was wrong. "Babe?"_

 _"It's time to go."_

 _He knew immediately that she was referring to the hospital. "Honey sit." He said, lowering her into the armchair in the office. He had reached for the phone. "Already called….he's on his way."_

 _"Alright." He said as calmly as he could. "Just relax baby. Just breathe." He encouraged, kneeling beside her and holding her hand. "Where's Stevie?"_

 _"In her room, playing." She choked out, squinting as another contraction came. She was trying to be quiet, again not needing Stevie freaking out._

 _After a few minutes she stood, pacing back and forth while holding her back, trying to alleviate the pressure. "God, where is he?"_

 _"He'll be here any second." Henry promised._

 _When he saw her father pull in the driveway some 20 minutes after she called, he ushered Elizabeth out of the office yelling for Stevie._

 _"What, Daddy?" she said, descending the stairs with her Barbie doll in hand._

 _"Grandpa's here." Henry said. "He's going to stay with you while I take Mommy to go get your baby sister okay."_

 _"Do you have to go get her now?" Stevie asked, somewhat annoyed. She'd been back and forth on her excitement about her baby sister._

 _"Yes, we have to go right now." Her father said. "You can come meet her tomorrow."_

 _"Baby, come here." Elizabeth said, forcing a smile for her daughter as another contraction hit her. "I know you are mad, but you're going to be a great big sister. You can help me dress her up like you do with your dolls and show her how well you read."_

 _"Okay, fine." Stevie rolled her eyes._

 _"Okay, I love you baby. Be good for grandpa okay?"_

 _"Love you too. Bye mommy. Bye daddy."_

 _Henry kissed her goodbye and then quickly pushed Elizabeth out the door. "Good luck sweetheart. Hang in there." John said, kissing his daughter on her way out._

 _"We'll call." Henry said as he opened Elizabeth's door and they waved._

 _"Grandpa, you're in luck. We're playing Barbies and you can be Ken."_

 _"Okay then." John laughed as Stevie pulled him by the hands up the stairs._

 _In the car, Elizabeth was finally able to let out a scream and her tears. "Oh god, Henry. Drive fast."_

 _90 minutes later, six pound, once ounce baby Allison had entered the world with a loud, healthy scream. Again, Henry had settled his wife back in bed, leaving his position behind her to go watch over their second little daughter._

 _Elizabeth tiredly watched Henry wave his arm with Allison's tiny footprints at her._

 _Again she complained she was freezing and was shaking badly, but Henry wrapped her in her sweater while the nurses finished with Allison._

 _Allison had been wailing non-stop and fidgeting as the nurses cleaned her and checked her vitals. Her heart rate was rising from her constant screaming, and it concerned them. They quickly wrapped her in a blanket; thinking the swaddle might help and handed her to Henry telling him to see if he could calm her._

 _Henry rocked his baby girl gently while he whispered to her and kissed her cheek, but she was still fussing, her tiny face bright red._

 _"What's the matter?" Elizabeth asked quietly, looking over at Henry._

 _"She's just fussy." He told her, not wanting to alarm her._

 _Dr. Miller heard the cries and was concerned as well that they were not stopping, after finishing her stitches he knew the nurses could handle Elizabeth from there while he checked in on baby Allison. "Let's try something." He said to Henry, he wanted to try one thing before they would have to mildly sedate Allison to calm her racing heart._

 _Henry followed the doctor to Elizabeth's bedside and the doctor adjusted her bed and pillows so she could take the baby. He nodded to Henry and he gently passed her to his mother._

 _With trembling hands, she accepted her screaming new baby and gently rocked her in her arms. She calmed almost instantly. Henry let out a sigh of relief as his daughter finally stopped crying and opened up her big brown eyes, looking up at her mother._

 _"Looks like she just needs her mom." Dr. Miller said, focusing his attention back to Elizabeth draping another blanket over her legs._

 _"Shhhh…now there, there." Elizabeth cooed. "What was all that fussing for Allison Jane?"_

 _From that moment on, Allison Jane was definitely mommy's little girl._

 _******Promises*******_

 _Allison grew up too quickly for her mother's liking. After her first few weeks of constant wailing whenever Elizabeth was away from her, Allison became a very good baby. She slept through the night, ate without fussing, and eve put up with her older sister dragging her about pretending as though she were her very own baby doll._

 _Time seemed to fly by. Suddenly Allison was 18 months and learning to walk and talk. It seemed far faster than it did with Stevie._

 _During that time in though, work had been insane. She was dealing with the continued escalation in Kosovo, all while trying to keep a handle on the middle east desk, her main assignment._

 _Things were moving a mile a minute and she had spent far longer at the office than she intended, and maybe that was why it seemed Allison grew 2 inches a week. And Ally had missed her mother. She'd always favored her mother and would say "Mommy!" the second she heard her high heels click though the house, and wriggle out of her father's arms, crawling or walking to get to her mother as quickly as she could._

 _"Allison." Her mother would say and pick her up and kiss her. "I missed you so much today…"_

 _On those days it seemed only Allison could comfort her after a long day's work. Of course she loved spending time with her husband and older daughter, but there were nights when Henry's warm embrace wasn't enough. She needed her baby girl snuggled on her chest while she fell asleep to wash away the horrors of her workday._

 _When Allison had grown too fidgety to lay with her mother every night, it had upset Elizabeth even more._

 _"Babe, what's the matter?" Henry would ask, always so tuned into her moods._

 _She'd shrug her shoulders. "Work is nuts. And my baby isn't a baby anymore."_

 _Henry would laugh and pull her in close. "I know, she's growing up too fast."_

 _"Henry, I need a baby to snuggle." She said. "Can we have just one more?"_

 _Henry knew it wasn't just Allison growing up that was hurting his wife. It was the state of the world. He knew it was getting crazier for her at work everyday based on what he saw on the news. He felt her slipping away, being sucked into the craziness. What he always hoped she could avoid; he didn't want her facing what he faced in the war. He didn't want it to consume her, but he was worried it was starting to._

AN: Thank you all for your continued reviews; they mean the world to me! I'm really glad you all are liking this story. I'm hoping to wrap up this one soon so I can get back to Madam President. I know you all have been so patiently waiting!


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Thank you all _**so**_ much for your continued reviews; they keep me motivated to keep writing. I took some of your advice; and parts of this chapter are in Henry's POV, so I hope you enjoy. This was a tough one for me to write - you'll soon see why. Many apologies for the delay; I was on vacation this week.

I was so sad to see no new stories this week upon my arrival home! Come on fellow writers - lets keep this fandom going!

*****Promises******

Henry McCord hated fighting with his wife. More than anything. They rarely fought as it was, at least seriously fought. Sure they had disagreements from time to time, but only over minor things. Even then, they never fought unfairly or hit each other below the belt. But he had this time. "I can't promise you what it will be like when you come back."

He hated himself the second the words left his mouth. It was a completely selfish thing to say. He knew how difficult the past few years had been for her; or rather for them. The war had been taxing on their family, mostly because of her work. And he couldn't blame her. It was important work she was doing; she was trying to end the war, trying to make it more humane. He believed it was his time away that made her so against war; it had taken 2 years of their time and it had hurt her, just as much as it hurt him. She was fighting desperately to make sure her children didn't have to face a world at war; but they were. And they were much too young to understand why their mother had to work so much, and why she would always look so defeated all the time.

But Henry did. Selfishly he didn't want her to go back to Baghdad. He didn't want to be away from her again. He didn't want to have to explain to the kids where mommy was. He didn't want her to miss any moment of their childhood. He didn't want the war to take away any more than it already had. Was that so wrong? No. But what he said to his wife was. He should have just said, "Babe, I don't want you to go. I'll miss you too much."

He'd been gentle with her the past couple years; allowing her the space to do what she felt she needed to at work. He could tell she was reaching her breaking point; and maybe what he said had pushed her just enough to realize that. He would never want her to jeopardize her career that she loved, but they made a promise long ago that they would never put work above family. And she was starting to. Albeit her reasons were to protect her family, but there had to be another way. She didn't need to go to Baghdad to do that. He had been overseas, he knew first hand what she would face. He knew she was tough and could do a great job, but she'd seen enough, been through enough. He knew you couldn't fundamentally change a culture in a year. He had studied religion and war enough to know better. His experience taught him that one person could only do so much in the field. It was taxing and grueling. He knew when enough was enough and you had to back off and support your country in other ways. He knew Elizabeth had reached this point, he only hoped she'd realize it too - and soon.

*****Promises*****

 _It had started out like another normal day. Henry McCord had kissed his wife goodbye as she left for work. He made the kids breakfast, drove Stevie to school and dropped Ally off at Miss Janey's. Janey was her babysitter on Mondays and Tuesdays while Alice was off._

 _He was enjoying a cup of coffee with his colleagues at UVA before his classes begun when the TV in the background switched to a breaking new story: a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center._

 _Henry's eyes were glued to the TV as were everyone's. He couldn't believe his eyes, the images looked so unreal. Then as the live feed continued on a second plane crashed into the second tower, right on live TV. He swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to calm his racing heart as the reporters threw out speculations on what cause this: terrorism._

 _Henry went off to his class, and turned on the TV in his classroom. He told the students that this was more important than anything he had to lecture about and said they could stay and watch, or leave, or whatever they felt they needed to do._

 _As the morning went on they broke in with news of the pentagon evacuation and his mind immediately drifted to his wife, she worked at a government building. Was she okay? He was sure they were being flooded with information trying to figure out what actually happened._

 _Then his phone rang. "Babe?"_

 _"Are you watching?" she asked. He could tell there were tears in her eyes._

 _"Are you okay babe?"_

 _"Yea. We're in the bunker." She whispered. "Henry it was Al Qaida."_

 _He swallowed. He didn't want his students to be alarmed, that information hadn't broken on the news for sure yet._

 _"Henry?"_

 _"I'm here babe."_

 _"Remember the USS Cole? George and I….we tried to tell Dalton that it was a preamble. We didn't know when….but he wouldn't listen. This is our fault."_

 _"It's not your fault." He said firmly._

 _"But if we could have…."_

 _"Babe, you told him. You tried."_

 _"I could have tried harder."_

 _"No."_

 _"Henry. The president is being briefed as we speak. He's going to ground all flights and close all federal buildings. We're getting reports there might be more. I need you to go home, get the girls and….be safe." She said quietly._

 _"Okay." He agreed. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I will. I love you."_

 _"I love you too. Call me when you're home with my babies."_

 _"I will. Babe, you be safe too. Come home as quick as you can."_

 _After he hung up with his wife, he had received a call from Stevie's school saying they were closing down as a precaution. He said he would be right there to pick up his daughter._

 _"Daddy, what's going on?" Stevie had asked him. "The teacher said that there was an accident in New York."_

 _"There was sweetheart."_

 _"But we don't live in New York."_

 _"I know sweetheart, but they don't want an accident here, so that's why they are sending everyone home."_

 _"Oh. Is mommy coming home then too?"_

 _"Yea, she'll be home later."_

 _"Okay."_

 _Henry was thankful Stevie didn't ask too many questions, he wasn't sure how to explain a terror attack to a six year old._

 _The day had been oddly quiet. The girls went and played in Stevie's room while Henry watched the coverage all day, completely numb._

 _Elizabeth had walked through the door in the early afternoon, looking equally numb. She dropped her bag and jacket and immediately nuzzled into his embrace. He didn't recall how long they held each other, quietly preparing for the difficult days ahead. They both knew it meant war._

 _The girls came downstairs looking for a snack when they saw their mother home. She smiled and hugged both of them tight, so happy they were safe. "Mommy, there was an accident in New York. That's why we got sent home from school."_

 _"I know baby. Mommy got sent home from work too."_

 _"Mommy's home." Ally said in her sweet 18 month old voice. She held out a story book. "Read pwease?"_

 _"Okay, let's go read." She agreed. She knew it was coming close to Allison's nap time and she always got a story before nap time._

 _Elizabeth read Ally her story and put her down for a nap, then colored with Stevie for a while in her room while Henry cooked dinner. Dinner was silent, and the food tasted bland. Neither had an appetite._

 _They stayed up watching the news until almost midnight before finally going to bed. They made love that night, slowly and quietly, desperately seeking the comfort of each other. They cried after, and held each other as they mourned the loss of their friends that worked at the WTC & Pentagon and worried about the difficult days ahead._

 _****Promises*****_

 _As expected it had been a hectic week for Elizabeth at work. She worked almost 60 hours straight since the 11_ _th_ _and finally came home on Friday evening and flopped on the couch._

 _The girls greeted her and she forced a tired smile and kissed them. "I missed you girls."_

 _She caught up with the girls while Henry warmed her up some leftovers from the meal he'd prepared earlier. She eventually walked into the kitchen and kissed him._

 _"Saved you dinner."_

 _"Thanks." She said and managed a few small bites._

 _"You okay?" he asked, concerned she wasn't eating._

 _"Just exhausted."_

 _"I bet."_

 _"And the terrible cramps." She whined._

 _Henry nodded sympathetically; she didn't get cramps often, but when she did they were bad. "How about a hot bath?"_

 _"Sounds nice."_

 _She put the girls to sleep and when she arrived in to the bathroom Henry was preparing a steaming hot bubble bath. She smiled. "I love you."_

 _"Love you too babe." He said, giving her a quick kiss._

 _He left her alone in the bathroom and as she stripped her clothing she noticed she'd been bleeding much heavier than normal. Chalking it up to stress from the week she climbed in the bath and hoped the hot water could soothe her cramps away._

 _It helped, but she still felt icky. She laid a towel down on her side of the bed, just in case and climbed under the covers and snuggled up to her husband._

 _Sometime in the middle of the night she awoke in a hot sweat. As she threw off the covers she noticed blood soaked through her pajama bottoms. "Oh god." she muttered, as the cramps intensified._

 _Henry stirred and noticed his wife sitting up in bed, then he saw the blood. "Oh my god. Honey, what's wrong?"_

 _She shook her head. She didn't know. Her first thought was immediately her mother's cancer. "Do you want to go to the hospital?" he asked her._

 _"No, I don't want to scare the girls." She said. "Maybe another bath for now?" she suggested._

 _"Okay." Henry agreed but was still concerned, and if it got worse he wasn't going to accept her protests of going to the hospital._

 _Henry ran her a fresh bath and threw her pajamas and the bloody towel into the washer. Luckily the sheets remained clean. He checked on the girls, still sleeping soundly and re-joined his wife in the bathroom._

 _"I think it's stopping." She said to him, indicating her cramps were subsiding._

 _He sat beside the tub and stroked her cheek. "Good. But I think you should go to the doctor tomorrow and get checked out. There was a lot of blood babe."_

 _She nodded and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "What if it's the cancer?"_

 _Henry frowned. He hoped not. "Then we'll fight it together. We'll beat it." He told her._

 _She nodded again and closed her eyes._

 _****Promises****_

 _The next morning Miss Janey came by to watch the girls while he took Elizabeth to visit Dr. Miller._

 _Dr. Miller re-entered the room where they waited the results of her blood tests after explaining what happened._

 _Henry gripped her hand; Dr. Miller did not have a happy expression._

 _"It's cancer, isn't it?" she blurted out_

 _"No. It's not." Dr. Miller confirmed._

 _"Then what?" Henry pushed_

 _"I'm so very sorry. But I believe you had a miscarriage." He said. Elizabeth and Henry looked dumbfounded. They couldn't speak. A miscarriage._

 _"The symptoms you described read miscarriage to the letter. After I looked at your blood tests I see that your hormone levels would put you at about 7 weeks pregnant." He explained gently. "I'm going to have to perform a D &C. I want to make sure everything is out. If there is any tissue or anything remaining, you can get a severe infection."_

 _Silent tears trickled down Elizabeth's cheek. "I didn't even know…it's all my fault."_

 _Henry gripped her hand tighter and Dr. Miller handed her a tissue._

 _"No Elizabeth, you must not blame yourself." Dr. Miller began. "7 weeks is when you would typically be finding out. Unless you have been sick like you were with Stevie, you wouldn't have had any reason to speculate."_

 _"I thought it was just a bad period at first." She admitted._

 _"And that's what most people assume. These things happen a lot early on. It isn't anyone's fault." He assured her. "I know that doesn't make it hurt any less, but really, don't blame yourself."_

 _She nodded. Although she did blame herself. "Were you trying to have another baby?" Dr. Miller asked._

 _"We started talking about it." Henry replied._

 _Dr. Miller nodded. "You can still have another baby. Lots of women have a miscarriage and then have perfectly normal babies."_

 _She nodded and Henry kissed her hand. "Can stress cause a miscarriage?" she asked quietly, fully blaming herself for her workload this week._

 _"There is no concrete medical evidence of that. " he said, he knew what she was getting at._

 _Henry had remained silent for most of the appointment. He had been as surprised as she was that what she experienced the previous night was a miscarriage. It was such a strange moment. On one hand he'd been thrilled they made a third baby. But then it had been taken away instantly. It was like a cruel joke. It had been the worst week of their lives. First 9/11, now this._

 _He tried to comfort his wife as best as he could during the D &C. He held her hand and brushed the silent tears from her cheeks. He told her he loved her and that it would be okay. But she wouldn't meet his eyes, at one point she turned her head the other way and stared at the flowered painting on the wall. _

_He knew she was blaming herself, even though the doctor told her not to. There wasn't anything he could do except hold her hand._

 _After the procedure was over they drove home, in silence. Elizabeth still refused to look at him, but he never once let go of her hand. She was told to rest for the next 2 days and to return on Monday for a follow up._

 _When they arrived home Elizabeth went straight to bed and locked the door. "Sweetheart…." He tried. He could hear her sobs through the door and wanted nothing more than to hold her. He'd lost his baby too. He asked Miss Janey to take the girls out for lunch and to the park after he explained what happened._

 _Henry located the key to the bedroom door and opened it. She was curled in a ball in the middle of the bed, but no longer crying._

 _He sighed and crawled in beside her, curling his body around his. "Hey….honey?" he tried again. "Please talk to me."_

 _She didn't respond._

 _"Baby, I'm just as sad as you." He whispered to her, trying to blink back his own tears._

 _He laid with her until the kids got home in silence, kissing her forehead gently as he went to say goodbye to Miss Janey. Maybe she'd fallen asleep for a bit, he didn't know. She wasn't responding to anything._

 _The girls of course asked where mommy was. He had said that she got sick last night and was in bed resting and that they shouldn't bother her._

 _He buried his sorrow for the loss of their unborn baby in his healthy, beautiful girls._

 _****Promises*****_

 _When Henry McCord awoke from an un-restful sleep the next morning he reached his hand out for his wife, and noticed her missing from their bed._

 _He quickly showered and dressed before heading downstairs. He noticed both girls beds' were empty and found them watching cartoons and eating cereal. "Hi Daddy." Stevie said. "I made cereal; hope that's okay?"_

 _"You made cereal?" he inquired, wondering why Elizabeth hadn't made it. She must have been downstairs if she wasn't in bed with him._

 _"I did. I only spilled a little." She said._

 _"Stevie, where's mom?"_

 _"Sleeping probably. She's sick, duh!" His oldest replied, thinking nothing of it._

 _He nodded and began searching for his wife. After a few minutes he noticed her car was missing from the garage. Damn it. She wasn't supposed to be driving following her procedure yesterday. He tried his best to contain his temper and worry; maybe she just went to get milk or something._

 _He grabbed himself some cereal, cleaning up where Stevie spilled, and watched cartoons with the girls keeping his eye on the clock. When Elizabeth hadn't returned home in an hour he began to worry. What if something happened? Where did she go?_

 _Then the phone rang._

 _"Elizabeth?" he asked. "Where the hell are you, I've been worried sick…."_

 _"Henry, It's John." John interrupted._

 _"Oh John. I'm sorry. Hello."_

 _"I just wanted to call you and let you know Elizabeth is okay. She's here at the farm with me."_

 _"Oh thank god!" he said, relieved. He was just glad she was okay. He would deal with the why later._

 _"I'm so very sorry about what happened yesterday." John said sincerely._

 _"How did you-?"_

 _"Elizabeth told me."_

 _*****Promises******  
In the wee hours of the morning Elizabeth shifted in bed. She couldn't sleep. She lost their baby, how could she?_

 _She blamed herself, how could she not have felt anything? How could she not know she was pregnant? If she only knew, then she would have been more careful, she could have prevented this. Despite what her doctor told her, this is what she believed._

 _Then her mind shifted back to Tuesday. No. It was Al Qaida's fault too. Terrorists had killed their sweet baby. She had convinced herself if she didn't just work 60 hours straight that she wouldn't have miscarried. It was that evening after she and Henry had sex that's he started bleeding lightly._

 _As she looked over at her wonderful husband she felt so guilty, that she'd failed as a mother, as a wife. She couldn't even keep their baby alive. She couldn't even look him in the eye. She was so afraid he'd be mad at her, hate her for what she did._

 _Then she had another thought. If only her mother were here. She could make it better. She had 2 miscarriages after all. She'd know what to do. No Elizabeth, she thought to herself, your mother had cancer. Her miscarriages were justified, yours isn't._

 _All of her thoughts were completely irrational. Maybe it was her pain medication, maybe not, but she believed every single one at the moment._

 _Finally she had one more thought, this one somewhat rational. Daddy. He's the only one who would understand. He had seen it happen to her mother, he would know what to do._

 _As soon as the sun filtered through the curtains, she got out of bed quietly, threw on her jeans and a fresh sweater and sped off to the farm without a note or goodbye._

 _She opened the door to the house using her key and flew through the house, looking for her father. She found him in his office reading the paper and sipping coffee. "Elizabeth! What on earth are you doing here?" he asked._

 _She broke down and ran to him like a little girl._

 _"What is it Lizzie? What's wrong?" he asked as wrapped her in his arms._

 _"You're the only one who will understand." She sobbed_

 _"What sweetheart?"_

 _"Henry hates me."_

 _"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. He loves you sweetheart."_

 _"Not anymore, not after what I've done."_

 _"Honey, there is nothing on this earth that would make that man not love you." John insisted._

 _"I killed our baby!" she cried._

 _John didn't understand. "What?"_

 _"I had a miscarriage yesterday. I didn't even know I was pregnant. How could I not have known? Henry hates me, I'm sure of it. And he has every right to. I killed our baby."_

 _"Oh Lizzie bear." Her father whispered. "I'm so sorry sweetheart."_

 _He held her in silence and let her cry, for the loss of her baby and the imagined hatred her husband had for her. When she finally pulled back he wiped at her tears and said. "I know this is really though. I've been where Henry is."_

 _"I know, you're the only one who understands. What do I do?"_

 _"Lizzie. I've been where Henry is. Let me tell you , he doesn't hate you. I didn't hate your mother when she had 2 miscarriages."_

 _"But she had cancer. It wasn't her fault."_

 _"It isn't your fault either, cancer or not." He assured her._

 _"Dr. Miller said that."_

 _"He's right sweetheart. And Henry loves you. But try and remember, he's upset too. He lost a baby too."_

 _She thought about it for a moment and agreed. "I suppose. But what do I do, how do I…."_

 _"Have you told him any of this?"_

 _"No." she looked down_

 _"Well that's where you start. You tell him all these feelings you have. And you let him tell you his. Then you hold each other and cry together, and you get through it together."_

 _"You're right…" she sniffled._

 _"Lizzie. I do understand. You know that right."_

 _She nodded._

 _"It will be okay. I promise." John told his daughter. "Alice is making breakfast, go have some and I'll call Henry, tell him you're here."_

 _****Promises*****_

 _The girls were thrilled with their impromptu visit to Grandpa's farm. Stevie ran right in the door and jumped into her Grandpa's arms. "Grandpa! Can we go riding?"_

 _"Okay, okay." John agreed. "Go get on your boots, I'll be there in a minute."_

 _John gave Henry a quick hug after Stevie ran off. "Thank you." Henry said._

 _"If you need anything…"_

 _"Yea."_

 _John turned his attention to Allison who tugged on his pants and picked her up. "Gwan-pa."_

 _"Hey, Munchkin! Do you want to go pet the horses?"_

 _Elizabeth slowly walked down the stairs and saw Henry. "Hi." She said._

 _She looked like a mess. He could tell she'd been crying. "Hi." He said back._

 _She looked at him for a moment and flung herself in his arms. "I'm so sorry." She cried._

 _He held his wife, rubbing her back. "It's okay." He kept repeating._

 _When she calmed down he offered to take her for a walk and she agreed. They walked for a while in silence, through the beautiful grounds on the farm. The leaves were just shifting colors. "Henry. I know I shouldn't have ran out like that, but my mind has just been non-stop. I had to talk to him. He's the only one who understands." She began._

 _"What do you mean?" he asked._

 _"My mom had two miscarriages."_

 _"You never told me…."he said. Now he understood her need to see her father. Clearly it had helped._

 _"I'm really sorry I never considered your feelings." She apologized. "I just thought you must hate me for killing our baby."_

 _"I could never hate you, ever." He assured her, stopping them to look her in the eye. "I love you. More than anything. And you did not kill our baby. It's not your fault."_

 _"I know it's not. In my head I know that. But I still feel responsible. I should have felt something. I should have known."_

 _"Look. I'm not a woman, so I can't pretend to know how it feels to have a baby inside you. But the doctor said you couldn't have known."_

 _She went on to tell him about her further conclusions of blame on the war. He pulled her into his arms and held her. He wasn't sure he could completely disagree there._

 _"I'm sad too baby. I feel guilty too. Maybe I should have insisted you go to the hospital that night."_

 _"No!" she insisted. "All that blood, it was probably too late."_

 _"You're probably right. I just. I miss our baby too. We'll never know the gender of the baby we lost, we'll never get to name it. Never get to feel it kick inside your belly."_

 _"We can still have another." She reminded. "Dr. Miller said we could try again in a couple of months."_

 _"I know. And believe me, my heart is always open to another baby. But I don't want to rush you after this. And even if we never do have another baby, know this. I love you and our girls more than anything. This is enough for me. But of course, if we do have another, I'll be just as happy as I am now."_

 _"Maybe we should just see what happens. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't."_

 _"Yea. I mean maybe this is God's way. Maybe now is just not the time for a third baby."_

 _She nodded. Henry would always turn to God for guidance._

 _"Just promise me you won't ever run off like that and bottle up your feelings. You scared me to death."_

 _"I'm sorry. I won't. I promise."_

 _"Alright." He said, giving her a quick kiss._

 _She deepened the kiss and they made out for a while, comforting one another as they stood in the middle of the trail, the beautiful fall air surrounding them. When the kiss broke she yawned and he wrapped his arm around her as they headed back to the house._


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hi all! Where are all my fellow writers! We need more fics! Come on guys - you can do it!**

 **Thanks for ALL your reviews - did I mention how much I LOVE reading them?**

 **Hope you all like this chapter too; most of it is again in Henry's POV. Probably only 1-2 more chapters on this. I've really enjoyed writing this one, I'm sad to see it be almost ending :(**

 _Baghdad._

 _Henry hated that place. He hated everything about it. He hated what went on there. He hated the sound of the name when it hit his ears._

 _If he was honest with himself he would have said it was her breaking point; and she'd been slowly losing herself to that place ever since. It had been 2 long years._

 _Shortly after the miscarriage they found out they were expecting again. This time a baby boy. Henry couldn't have been happier; the son he'd been secretly hoping for. Elizabeth had been thrilled too; so happy Henry would have a son._

 _The new baby seemed to take away the sorrow in their hearts from the miscarriage. Not that they would ever forget, or stop wondering, but it was something positive to look forward to in 2002. They could put 2011 and the pain it caused personally and on a national level far behind them. Or so he thought._

 _Elizabeth had been extra diligent about protecting their son; trying her best to avoid another miscarriage, a part of her still believing it could have been prevented. She ate properly; got plenty of rest and demanded to be put on a different assignment at work to ease with the stress and long hours. She refused to do any traveling as well._

 _Conrad of course had abided by her wishes and assigned her track in individual they'd identified in several bombings and attacks on civilians in Iraq. It was a lesser assignment; but still an important one, and one that would allow her to feel as though she was helping in the war on terror without directly having to work on the larger Al Qaeda operations._

 _Despite all of that; she had gone into labor at 30 weeks. Luckily they were able to stop it and she was confined to bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy._

 _Henry knew she wasn't a bed rest type person; and her definition of bed red was working from her laptop in bed. She'd gone into labor again at 33 weeks; and this time they couldn't stop it._

 _He'd never seen her feel as guilty or terrified as when Jason was born and she didn't hear a cry from him. The cord had been wrapped around his neck and he'd quickly been whisked away to the NICU without either of them getting to hold him. Even though the doctor assured her it wasn't her fault about the cord; and that Jason was doing fine and was just placed there as a precaution - all preemies were she couldn't stop feeling as though she'd hurt him in some way._

 _Jason spent 3 weeks in the hospital before he was allowed to go home. Dr. Miller had assured her Jason wasn't early because she worked from home, again 'sometimes it just happens' he said, and he told their son was progressing as well as expected for a baby his size; just 3.5 pounds. But she stayed with him as long as possible everyday; reading to him as she held him in her arms, rocking him all day. Henry spent much time in the hospital holding his son and he brought the girls to visit their brother almost everyday. He remembered holding him and looking into Elizabeth's sad eyes saying. "Honey, he's strong, he's the son of a Marine. A fighter." Anything he could say to reduce her sadness. He loved his tiny son and didn't blame Elizabeth at all. He was as healthy as he could be and that was *because* of his wife. She'd taken great care of him for 33 weeks, he was the strong husband and father he needed to be, and saw his family through the 3 weeks in the hospital_

 _The sadness didn't leave her beautiful blue eyes; the same eyes Jason had until he was released to go home; when he'd reached 6 pounds and was just as big as Allison & Stephanie when they were brought home. _

_Henry noticed her, his Elizabeth, the real Elizabeth, returning when she was home again with the kids during her maternity leave. Her anger at the war seemed to be lessening. It had. Until she went back to work and learned that Safir had set off more bombs and she was more determined than ever to get him. The anger clouded her eyes once again almost immediately. He hated it._

 _In 2003, when Jason was just 6 months old she told Henry she'd finally located him, they'd captured him. They wanted her to interrogate him. Her blood was boiling and she had to do it._

 _After the two week trip; where Henry had lied to Stevie about her whereabouts, she returned home, but not without doubt filling her mind. He thought for sure she'd feel better after getting her target and start returning to her old self again. But she didn't._

 _That night as she lay in his arms, she quietly cried. "Henry, I'm a torturer."_

" _No honey." he assured her, looking deep into her eyes._

" _Yes. It's my fault. I couldn't break him. Maybe I was too emotionally involved, maybe it was the hormones. I don't know. But I failed at my job. And they had to torture him. I authorized it, it's all on me."_

" _It's not honey. He killed dozens of people. Children - you said it yourself- kids Ally and Jason's age. Innocent people. He got what he deserved." Henry argued_

" _I know. But does that mean it's okay for us to torture people? How does that make us any better?"_

" _Babe…"_

" _Henry, I'm serious!"_

" _I know you are. Babe, I was a Marine, I killed people. I understand the mental struggle with that. We're in a war. This is the landscape. It's not easy. It's not black and white" he told her._

 _When she didn't respond he asked, "Am I terrible person for killing people when I was flew those fighter jets?"_

" _Of course not!" she said immediately._

" _Then why does this make you a terrible person?" he asked, hoping his context helped her._

 _She looked at him, her eyes were clouded with pain, confusion. She wasn't able to answer. She didn't know._

" _Look, don't you agree that he did terrible things and has to pay for them? If he was an American, and set off a bomb at some park in America, he would probably get the death penalty." he tried another justification_

" _I suppose." she agreed._

" _So he has to pay for what he did, he got tortured and he died. That's justice."_

" _Maybe so, but it didn't help the war. Don't you think prisoners deserve to be treated humanely for war crimes; murderers are treated kindly in prisons here."_

 _Henry looked at her. Maybe they were. Maybe they weren't. War changed the landscape. It always did. He'd learned and accepted this is in the Marines._

" _Honey, if you don't agree with it; then do something about it. Take action." he finally said, knowing she wouldn't let it rest until she could do something to make up for it in her mind_

" _So you don't agree with me?" she raised her voice, shocked._

" _I don't know babe. I see both sides." He pulled her closer, holding her tight, kissing her gently on her forehead, giving his best attempt to console her confused heart._

 _She took his advice and took action, spending the nearly next two years writing her 500 page Baghdad station report; pushing for the humane treatment of prisoners of war. One of her arguments was "how can we expect American prisoners of war be treated humanely, if the US doesn't exhibit similar procedure with opposition prisoners. She'd cited the Geneva convention._

 _She genuinely believed that Safir was not a terrible person. He only set off those bombs because his government made him. Just as she'd let him be tortured; her government almost demanded the action from her. Did that make her a terrible person? No. Henry agreed with her there. Because he killed people in combat as a Marine, it didn't make him a terrible person. He helped her illustrate a section with some of the points and research on the 'just war' concept he often taught about in his Military Ethics class._

 _She also furiously researched other incidents similar to the one she participated in; where the target hadn't confessed or given up co-conspirators and they'd ended up killing them before they revealed any information. It was squandering resources, not preventing any bombings; other bombers would always take the place of captured soldiers. It was the way their army worked; those soldiers were trained to sacrifice their lives before they would reveal secrets to the opposition._

 _For a while writing that report had brought her peace; she was taking action, coming to terms with her part in the Baghdad trip. She wasn't actively spying on anything; just dedicated to her report._

 _She said on numerous occasions that she was sure she'd get fired when Conrad saw it. Going completely against the government in which you work for wasn't exactly the best way to impress your boss._

 _Henry had secretly hoped she would get fired; more than once. He wanted her to back off the CIA and have a regular job, with regular hours, that didn't involve lying about her whereabouts to her kids. But most importantly, one that made her happy. Like the CIA used to._

 _He'd been more shocked than ever when she came home that Wednesday and told him Conrad loved her report; so confident in it, in her, that he'd shown it to the Secretary of State and Defense and wanted to promote her to Baghdad Station Chief so she could implement it herself._

 _Of course he was thrilled for her; but so disappointed she'd considered going. How could she just leave her almost two year old son. Then he screamed at her in frustration for two days, the worst fight they'd ever had; one of the only fights they'd ever had. He shouldn't have yelled. They should have had a calm and rational discussion. Even though he was angry, he had no right to treat her that way. It was entirely his fault. He had to apologize and make it right, even it meant supporting her if she wanted to go to Baghdad._

*****Promises*****

Elizabeth had never written a letter like this before. But her mind was made up. She hit print on her computer and scribbled her signature on the bottom of the page before she talked herself out of delaying it.

On her way out for the day she stopped by Conrad's office. "Bess."

"Conrad, I finished the revisions to the station report." she said quietly, setting the document on his desk.

"Great. Sit down." he said, motioning to a chair in front of his desk. "I wanted to talk with you about that. Ideally, I'd like you to leave in three weeks."

"About that sir...I" she paused, taking a deep breath and setting the single sheet of paper down on top of the report. "I really can't leave in 3 weeks. I'm. I'm - resigning."

Conrad took the letter and looked at it, then looked to her. She was dead serious.

"Conrad, I'm flattered- honored- that you want me to go to Baghdad, but I just can't leave my family for that long." It wasn't her most eloquent speech; but it was the honest truth.

He smiled, reaching to crumble up her letter. "Bess, then why didn't you just say so. I can send someone else if you are really against going. Don't quit. You're my best analyst. I need you."

"Sir, again. It's very nice of you to offer." she said firmly, reaching for his hand, preventing him from crumpling the letter. "Believe me, I have loved working here. I just. I'm burning out...and I...I miss my kids." she felt terrible. She loved her job, it was the only job she'd ever had. She never imagined quitting like this. But her love for her husband and her children were the only things she loved more than her job and her country. She'd been very disappointed in her country lately.

"How about a nice long vacation?"

"Sir…."

"There's nothing I can say to change your mind?"

She shook her head.

He smiled a sad smile. when he realized there wasn't. He figured this day would come eventually since the day she ran out to visit Henry at Landstuhl. He couldn't say he blamed her. Lydia had been on him for years about missing out on Harrison's life. But he knew she'd be back. He knew she couldn't stay away forever. "Okay Bess. I understand. But anytime you want to come back, or get bored and want to do some side consulting work - you let me know. My door is always open for you. This place won't be the same without you."

"Thank you, Conrad." she said with unshed tears in her eyes before she left for the day. As she walked out of the building she felt lighter than she had in years; finally feeling as though the weight and pressure of the war had been lifted from her shoulders.


	11. Chapter 11

A delicious aroma filled her nose as she opened the door to their home; Henry's homemade spaghetti sauce.

As she slipped off her coat and tossed her bag on the foyer table she heard tiny footsteps running toward her, followed by a loud thud as her toddler fell on the hardwood floor. She took a few steps and scooped up her son just as he burst into screams and kissed his cheek as he wailed. "It's okay buddy." she said into his ear. He had been perfecting his running skills and tried a full on toddler sprint to reach her, so happy she was home from work.

Jason in tow, still calming into her embrace, she walked into the kitchen finding the rest of her family. Henry was at the stove stirring the simmering sauce with a wooden spoon. The girls were setting the table.

Henry was wearing his Chef Dad apron that Allison had made for him the previous father's day. She sighed and moved closer to him, reaching to place a gentle kiss on his lips.

He was surprised by her kiss, since they'd been arguing she hadn't been very affectionate. He kissed her back softly, telling her he was sorry though the kiss and slipped his hand around her hips. "Hi." she said, pulling away from the kiss and adjusting Jason who was still in her arms.

"Hi. You're home early." he smiled back, and offered her a taste of the sauce.

"Mmmm." She licked the spoon; Henry's homemade spaghetti sauce was one of her favorites. "Can we talk later?" she whispered, indicating she was ready, but wanted to have the conversation in private after the kids were in bed.

He pulled her close once more and kissed her forehead. "Of course."

She smiled and winked as she left his embrace and moved over to the table to talk to the girls. Dropping Jason in his highchair, she came up behind Ally and hugged her. "Hi baby girl. How was your day?"

"Good Mommy. Today we made finger paint pictures at school. I hung mine on the fridge. It's a princess. "

"A beautiful princess." she agreed looking at the new sheet of paper that hung on the fridge.

Next she moved to her oldest and hugged her. "Hi Stevie, how was your math test?"

"It was fine. I got an A." she bragged.

"Very good. Did you leave the baby gate open again?"

"I guess I forgot. I'm sorry." she offered.

"Alright. Try and remember to keep it closed; your brother fell in the hallway when I came in."

"Mommy! Did you eat the cookies I made?" Ally interjected

"I did, they were delicious."

"I can tell. You don't look sad anymore."

"They really helped baby girl."

"I'm glad. I don't like when you are sad."

Stevie again rolled her eyes at her sister's efforts to kiss up to their mother. Elizabeth let it slide; remembering a time when Stevie had been just as sweet as Allison. Well sweeter than she was now at age 10. Allison had always been her sweetest.

"Okay guys, dinner's ready!" Henry called; breaking up the potential sassiness from Stevie and he placed a heaping bowl of spaghetti and a plate of garlic bread in the center of the table and sat down.

"I'll get drinks." Elizabeth offered and rose to retrieve a bottle of red wine for she and Henry and the carton of milk for the kids.

She filled each of the children's glasses and Jason's tippy cup with milk. Henry cut up some noodles and spooned some sauce on them in Jason's little plastic bowl. It was going to be a messy meal.

During dinner; Elizabeth smiled at Henry across the table. He wondered what had changed her mood in the past 8 hours so drastically. But whatever it was he didn't care. His wife seemed happy, she was home on time to eat with them at the table and the kids were thrilled.

Stevie went on during dinner about the mean girl in her class and Allison showed off how much better she was doing with her fork twirling skills; using both hands to twist the spaghetti on it.

Jason was babbling nonsensical words as he messily shoved the noodles into his mouth; his cheeks and hands covered in sauce.

As she listened to her girls and watched Jason make a mess she thought about how incredibly lucky she was to have such a wonderful family. She couldn't imagine how she'd spent so much time apart from them recently. In that moment; she didn't second guess her decision to quit in the least.

After dinner the girls helped Henry do the dishes while Elizabeth took Jason upstairs for a bath. She carried him upstairs, her arms fully outstretched as to avoid getting sauce on herself and set him on the counter to strip his clothing while the tub filled with warm water.

She added in some bubbles and set Jason down and happily watched him splash about and play with his little boats. He loved bath time. These were the moments she often missed because she was held up at work, or running some secret mission half way around the world. Moments she missed that she could never get back. A happy grin graced her features as Jason squealed in delight as she splashed him in the tub and blew bubbles off his head. She didn't want to miss anymore of these moments.

Before lifting Jason from the tub, she gave him a quick once over with the baby wash, making sure he was actually clean and wrapped him in a fluffy towel before putting him in a fresh diaper and clean pajamas. She loved that fresh baby smell and inhaled as she carried him downstairs.

After stepping over the baby gate she set him down and he immediately scurried to his toys.

The rest of the family was waiting on the couch; popcorn popped ready to watch a movie. The girls had selected _The Princess Diaries_. She was quite sure her husband was tired of princess movies; and couldn't wait for Jason to have a long enough attention span to watch with them, because then he knew the mix would have to be diversified.

Regardless he lifted his arm so she could settle against his shoulder, which she did immediately. She didn't say much during the movie, simply happy for the time with her family. She watched Allison & Steve argue over their bowl of popcorn and Jason push his big yellow truck back and forth across the floor, completely unaware of the princess movie.

Within the hour, Jason grew tired. It was coming up on his bedtime. She noticed it by his shortened attention with each toy, before crawled up on the couch next to her and buried his face into her leg. "Oh, someone is tired." she whispered to Henry. He took the popcorn from her lap as she stood and picked up Jason, taking him to the recliner with her, settling him against her chest as she started to rock him to sleep.

Henry smiled. Jason loved when Elizabeth was home early enough to rock him to sleep. Sometimes it was the only interaction they got all day. He got up and gave the girls his remaining popcorn and draped a blanket over his wife and son as they watched the remaining 30 minutes of the movie.

When the credits rolled, Henry clicked off the TV and ushered the girls up to bed. Elizabeth carried Jason and lay his already sleeping form in his crib before they tucked in the girls and headed back down to the living room for their talk.

"Babe, I know you want to talk. But let me apologize first. I've been thinking about it a lot, what I said was completely out of line and I'm sorry. You should go to Baghdad, if that's what you really want. It's a fantastic opportunity, you earned it. I mean, selfishly yes, I want you to stay. I hate being apart from you. That's what I should have said. I should have said, 'I'll miss you too much' But, we'll get through it, we always do - the kids-"

"Henry, I quit today." She interrupted, her eyes shimmering. She appreciated his apology, but she just needed to get it out.

Henry did a double take, blinking quickly. "What?"

"I quit." she repeated.

Henry couldn't speak. He was shocked. Thrilled. But shocked.

"I don't want to go to Baghdad." she whispered.

"You don't."

"No. I just...yes, what you said hurt me, and I'm still kind of mad about that. But you were right. Things would be different. They already are. I've been thinking a lot...and these past 4 years have been so hard. The miscarriage, 9/11, work. I mean I rarely make it home for dinner, I'm missing out on the kids' childhood. I keep working round the clock to fix something I..I don't even know if it can be fixed anymore. It's….I know you've been trying to get me to see that, and I finally did. I can't do it anymore. I don't want to do it anymore."

He pulled her to his chest, letting her cry for the past 4 years. "It's alright sweetheart."

"I'm so sorry, Henry." she cried into his chest.

"For what, darlin?" he wiped at her tears when she pulled back.

"For breaking one of our promises."

"What promise?"

"You know the one we made on graduation day, when I was so mad at my dad for missing my speech? When we promised we'd never let work get in the way of family."

"You didn't break it. Come on, you haven't missed out on any big occasion." he assured her.

"I love you." It was the only thing she could say in that moment as she leaned in and pressed her lips against his. All that mattered now was that they'd forgiven each other. It didn't matter who's fault it was, who said what, or who was right. They loved each other and it was all they needed.

"I love you too, babe." he said, pushing his tongue into her mouth to mingle with hers.

She groaned into the kiss and he deepened it, his hands roaming her body. "Make up sex?" she asked, breathless.

It wasn't often they fought, so make up sex for them was rare.

Henry nodded and scooped her up, moving them to the bedroom. Their make up sex was desperate and needy, followed by slow and tender.

Henry smiled down at her as he held her against his chest, stroking her hair. She smiled back up at him and leaned in for a kiss. "Henry?" she whispered. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I think we lay here together and fall asleep." he said, knowing that's not what she was asking.

She giggled. "Not that. I mean like, work. Do I get another job?""

"Eventually, I suppose." Henry said. "You should stay home with the kids for a while, like you mentioned earlier. They'll love it. And when you're ready to go back to work, you can."

"Yea. That sounds nice. I just, I don't know what I want to do, you know?"

"You'll figure it out." he said as he brushed his lips across her cheek.

The next day, Henry had saw the ad in the paper for the farm house. They went to look at it, immediately fell in love with it and bought it, diving head first into life outside of the CIA.

They spent an incredible summer there with the kids, riding horses, roasting marshmallows and swimming in the river that flowed in the woods behind the property. Elizabeth had quickly returned to her old self, no longer caught up in a war she couldn't fix, as they re-created a version of their college bubble once more. They were out in the country with no outside influences to disrupt their happiness.

****Promises******

6 months later

Henry McCord knocked on a class room door at UVA. "May I walk you to your next class?"

Elizabeth looked up from her desk, offering the most adorable smile. "Absolutely. I'd hate to be late on my first day." she winked, taking him back to their first meeting in a college lecture hall so similar to the ones at UVA.

Henry smiled, wrapping his arms around his wife. "Luckily for you I know my way around this place pretty well. I even dropped by early enough to buy you a coffee before your next class."

"Do you do buy all new professors coffee on their first day?" she flirted as she pulled on her jacket.

"No, just the pretty blonde ones." he flirted back as he walked with her arm and arm across campus.

As they walked she couldn't help but smile. Here they were, walking arm and arm on a college campus, just as they did when they met nearly 17 years ago to the day.

She was sure if she mentioned it to Henry he'd come up with some ancient quote to describe the situation. But for her the simplest answer was sometimes the best. Despite all happened in the past 17 years, the happy and the sad, they had come full circle; beginning the next chapter of their lives in the same place as when they started, in college and in love.

Fin

 **AN: THANK YOU all so much for your continued support and interest on this story. I know I say that every time, but I mean it! You are the best. I hope you enjoyed the ending. I'm sort of sad to see this one end, but I'm trying to finish up my WIPs before S2 starts. Then I can start on some fresh storylines.**


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